US President Donald Trump on Monday confused India with Brazil, claiming that 125 million people had voted in an Indian “presidential election”, while also questioning the integrity of the American voting system.In a post on Truth Social, 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!”He then compared the alleged election results with the US electoral process, writing, “In Detroit, Philadelphia, California, and numerous other US Cities and States, the results, with much smaller numbers, will often take weeks to Rig, I mean, calculate. Voting in America is corrupt!!!”However, India did not hold a presidential election on Sunday. The President of India is elected indirectly by an electoral college and not through a direct nationwide popular vote.Trump’s remarks came after Brazil held the first round of its presidential election on Sunday, with incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro advancing to the October 25 runoff.With 99.99% of the votes counted, Bolsonaro secured 47.03% of the valid votes, while Lula received 45.16%, according to Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court.The figure of around 125 million mentioned by Trump is close to Brazil’s total valid votes, which stood at about 125.27 million, suggesting he may have confused the Brazilian election with India.Neither Bolsonaro nor Lula crossed the 50% threshold required to win in the first round, triggering the October 25 runoff, BBC reported.Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, outperformed expectations in the first round and finished ahead of Lula. His strong showing has raised the prospect of a shift to the right in Latin America’s largest economy.Brazil has used electronic voting for decades, and electoral authorities said the first-round voting process proceeded smoothly.The Organization of American States’ electoral observation mission said “the voting has been going smoothly and under adequate safety conditions.”
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The rapid announcement of results has also been cited as a strength of Brazil’s electronic voting system.“When results take a lot of time, it creates an opening for people to cast doubt on the results, to say there’s been a problem,” Josemar Lauriano Pereira, a 46-year-old lawyer in Rio de Janeiro, told the Associated Press.Trump’s post drew reactions on social media, with users pointing out that India does not elect its president through a direct popular vote.One user posted, “Trump living in a different world? Is a presidential election taking place in India? President Donald Trump made the incorrect claim that 125 million people voted in India’s “presidential election” today.”Another said, “What is my blud Donald Trump smoking? Why is he mentioning India instead of Brazil when talking about the election?”
