'India's Presidential Election': Trump confuses Brazil with India
What's the story
United States President Donald Trump has mistakenly praised India while commenting on the presidential polls in Brazil. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "125 Million People voted today in the first round of India's Presidential Election." He then compared this with voting in American cities like Detroit and Philadelphia, alleging that it could take weeks to "calculate" results there. "Voting in America is CORRUPT!!!" Trump wrote.
Election mix-up
But Brazil held its presidential election on Sunday
Brazil held its presidential election on Sunday, October 4. About 125 million Brazilians voted in the first round of the election.
The results showed Flavio Bolsonaro leading with around 47% of valid votes while incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva followed closely with about 45%.
Neither candidate crossed the required majority, sending the election to a second round on October 25.
Election system
India does not conduct nationwide popular vote for president
India does not conduct a nationwide popular vote for its president.
Instead, an Electoral College comprising elected members of both Houses of Parliament and state legislative assemblies elects the president.
Members vote by secret ballot under a proportional representation system that uses a single transferable vote, with the winner serving a five-year term.
Droupadi Murmu is India's current President, having been elected in 2022.
Social media
Trump praises India's polls
While Trump's post was wrongly attributed to Brazil, he had earlier praised India's election system while calling for a passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which seeks stricter citizenship requirements for voters.
He questioned how US elections were being held without a valid photo ID.
He noted that India's last general election had 646,000,000 voters, but not even 1 percent of voters voted by mail, and that every voter was required to present valid photo identification.