Washington: US President Donald Trump appeared to mistakenly refer to Brazil as India while commenting on the South American country’s presidential election, claiming that 125 million people had voted in the “first round of India’s presidential election”.
Trump made the remarks in a post on Truth Social Monday (Indian time), shortly after the first round of Brazil’s presidential election was held. India does not have a direct presidential election in which citizens vote for the President.
In his post, Trump wrote: “125 Million People voted today in the first round of India’s Presidential Election. The results came out shortly after the vote closed, on the SAME DAY! 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. Voting in America is CORRUPT!!! President DJT.”
Official White House Rapid Response account also reposted Trump’s post.
Comment sections flooded with social media users correcting Trump.
Trump’s post came after the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, in which right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro finished ahead of incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva but failed to secure the more than 50 per cent of votes required to win outright.
With 98.81 per cent of the votes counted, Bolsonaro secured 47.24 per cent of the vote, while Lula received 44.91 per cent. As neither candidate crossed the required threshold, the two will now face each other in a run-off scheduled for October 25.
The result marks a strong performance for Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The former right-wing leader is serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted of masterminding a failed attempt to overturn the previous election result through a military coup.
Lula, meanwhile, will now seek to consolidate his existing support while reaching out to voters who backed candidates eliminated in the first round.
The president faces the challenge of preventing the right from gaining control of Brazil’s presidency.
