In most countries that have exit polls during elections, the media are only allowed to publish results after the close of voting.
A report by the Amsterdam-based Foundation for Information five years ago that looked into the publication of political public opinion around the world, entitled 'The Freedom to Publish Opinion Poll Results', found that 59 countries allowed exit polls.
The media in 70 per cent of those countries could publish exit poll results only after all polls closed, while in 20 per cent they could publish such results before voting closed. Information was not available for the remaining 10 per cent.
Countries such as Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal allowed exit polls outside voting stations, with results able to be published after the polls closed.
In the United States, ABC News, Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News formed a consortium to provide information on election night about the vote count, election analysis and election projections.
Winning candidate projections were only made after all the polls in a state had closed and when estimates showed a clear winner.
