US President Donald Trump appeared to confuse Brazil with India in a Truth Social post about presidential elections, claiming ‘125 million people voted today in the first round of India’s Presidential Election’. No such election took place in India.

Trump’s post was about Brazil, which held the first round of its presidential election on October 4. Brazil’s electoral body reported 125,272,513 valid votes. India’s president is elected indirectly by an electoral college of MPs and state legislators – citizens do not vote directly.

With 98.81 per cent of votes counted, right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro won 47.24 per cent against incumbent President Lula’s 44.91 per cent. Since neither crossed 50 per cent, a runoff is scheduled for October 25.

Fact-checkers confirmed the screenshots of Trump’s post are real and said the post was later edited to say Brazil. The White House Rapid Response account had reposted the original version, drawing scrutiny of the administration’s fact-checking.