U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to confuse Brazil’s presidential election with India’s in a social media post, claiming that 125 million people had voted in the first round of India’s “presidential election.”
Trump made the claim on Truth Social on October 4, shortly after Brazil held the first round of its presidential election. His post said: “125 Million People voted today in the first round of India’s Presidential Election.”
The claim contained two major errors. India did not hold a presidential election on that day, and the country’s president is not elected through a direct nationwide popular vote. Instead, the president is chosen by an electoral college made up of elected members of Parliament and state legislative assemblies.
The number Trump cited, however, closely corresponds to the number of valid votes cast in Brazil’s presidential election. Brazil held its first-round vote on October 4, with more than 125 million valid votes recorded.
Brazil’s election is now heading to a runoff because no candidate secured more than half of the valid votes. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro finished first with 47.03 percent, or more than 56.1 million votes, while incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received 45.16 percent, or more than 53.8 million votes.
The two candidates will face each other again in the second round on October 25. Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court confirmed the runoff after the first-round count showed that neither candidate had crossed the required 50 percent threshold.
Trump’s post also used the Brazilian election’s rapid vote-counting process as a comparison with elections in the United States. Brazilian authorities completed the count using the country’s electronic voting system within hours of polls closing.
The apparent mix-up quickly drew attention in Indian and international media, particularly because India’s presidential election system is fundamentally different from Brazil’s. India’s president serves as head of state, while the prime minister leads the government, and the president is elected indirectly by an electoral college.
Trump did not appear to correct the reference to India in the post immediately afterward.
Brazil’s runoff on October 25 will determine whether Lula begins another presidential term or Flávio Bolsonaro becomes the country’s next president.
