Trump confuses Brazil with India, says 125 million voted in ‘India’s Presidential Election’

US President Donald Trump appeared to confuse Brazil with India while commenting on Brazil’s presidential election, claiming that 125 million people had voted in the “first round of India’s Presidential Election”.

The reference was particularly puzzling because India did not hold a presidential election on Sunday.

Trump made the comments in a post on Truth Social on Monday (IST). while praising the speed at which the election results were announced. His post came a day after Brazil held the first round of its presidential election on October 4.

“125 Million People voted today in the first round of India’s Presidential Election,” Trump wrote.

He then claimed that the results came out shortly after voting closed on the same day, using the supposed Indian election to compare the country’s voting process with the US electoral system.

“In Detroit, Philadelphia, California, and numerous other U.S. Cities and States, the results, with much smaller numbers, will often take weeks to Rig, I mean, calculate,” Trump wrote.

He ended the post by declaring, “Voting in America is CORRUPT!!!”

The details in Trump’s post, however, closely match Brazil’s presidential election rather than any election in India. Around 124.5 million Brazilians cast their votes in Sunday’s election, a figure that is close to the 125 million mentioned by Trump.

What happened in Brazil

Brazil held the first round of its presidential election on October 4, with incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro emerging as the two leading candidates.

Neither candidate secured enough votes to win outright, sending the election to a second round on October 25. Flávio Bolsonaro received about 47% of the vote, while Lula received about 45%.

India did not have a presidential election

India’s electoral system is different from Brazil’s.

Indian citizens do not directly vote for the President. The President is elected by an Electoral College consisting of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of the legislative assemblies of the states, as well as Delhi and Puducherry.

The President serves a five-year term. Droupadi Murmu took office as President in July 2022, so India’s next presidential election is due in 2027, not 2026.

This means there was no Indian presidential election in which 125 million people voted on October 4.

Trump’s post quickly drew attention on social media, with users pointing out that India had not held the election he described and that the voting figures he cited were associated with Brazil.