Washington:
US President Donald Trump appeared to have mixed up India with Brazil as the South American country voted for its next president. Taking to his Truth Social platform, the US leader wrote about the supposed presidential election in India, whose results, according to him, were announced the same day.
“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,” Trump wrote.
The problem with the statement is that India does not have any elections today, let alone a presidential election. Moreover, the presidential election in India is not direct, i.e., the people do not directly elect the President, but their elected representatives choose the leader.
Trump seems to have confused India with Brazil, where the pivotal presidential election is headed to a runoff after incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his ideological opposite, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, failed to win a majority vote on Sunday.
Brazil’s electoral court had Bolsonaro with just over 56 million votes to Lula’s 53.6 million. The runoff will be held on October 25, and the next presidential term is set to begin January 5, 2027.
Embarrassing Gaffe
Trump followed his embarrassing gaffe with a jab at the US electoral system ahead of the critical mid-term polls. He wrote, “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,” he added.
Americans will vote in November 3 midterm elections to decide who controls Congress for the final two years of Trump’s presidency, along with dozens of governorships and thousands of state offices. The pre-poll surveys show Trump is going into polls less popular than any predecessor facing midterms in modern polling.
Americans will elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 senators, alongside governors in 36 states. The election decides who controls the legislature — which passes laws, sets the budget and polices the White House.
Forecaster Decision Desk HQ gives Democrats a 75 per cent chance of winning the House, projecting a 234-201 majority. It rates the Senate a near coin flip, with Democrats narrowly favoured to take it 51-49.
Control of the House alone would hand Democrats powerful committees and subpoena authority.
Trump Praises Indian Polls
This is not the first time Trump praised India’s electoral system. In August, he cited India’s voter card system to press for domestic citizenship verification, claiming the move would curb electoral fraud
In a social media post, Trump had said that over 646 million people participated in the recent general elections in India, yet fewer than 1 per cent voted by postal ballot. Making a strong case for stricter electoral laws in the US, he recalled Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar questioning the lack of voter identification in American polls.
Trump had said India’s chief election commissioner had spoken with officials from his administration earlier this month and asked how US elections can be held without a valid photo identification card.
