Washington: US President Donald Trump appeared to mistakenly refer to India instead of Brazil while commenting on Brazil’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 on Monday, shortly after the first round of Brazil’s presidential election. India does not have a direct presidential election in which citizens vote to elect the President.
In his post, Trump wrote that “125 Million People” had voted in the first round of India’s presidential election and contrasted the speed at which the results were announced with the time taken to count votes in the United States.
The official White House Rapid Response account also reposted Trump’s post.
Trump’s remarks prompted social media users to point out the apparent mix-up, noting that the election he appeared to be referring to was Brazil’s presidential election.
Brazil election heads for run-off
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, Bolsonaro and Lula will now face each other in a run-off election on October 25.
The result marked 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 will now seek to consolidate his existing support while reaching out to voters who backed candidates eliminated in the first round.
The Brazilian President faces the challenge of preventing the right from gaining control of the country’s presidency.