Elections in Brazil: after a tense day, polling stations are closed
A Lula supporter, Brazilian flag on her back, flanked by the number 13 of the PT candidate, at the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro, this Sunday, October 30, 2022. AP - Bruna Prado
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
Polling stations closed in Brazil at the scheduled time, 9 p.m. in Paris, this Sunday, October 30, after a delicate day of voting interspersed with incidents involving the federal road police (PRF).
The results of this second round of the presidential election, between Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro, are expected later in the evening.
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Long queues to decide between the outgoing head of state and his predecessor, in a country where voting is authorized from the age of 16, and compulsory from the age of 18.
Some 156 million voters were called to the polls this Sunday in Brazil, and the whole question is whether everyone was able to access their polling station to express themselves.
Throughout the country, according to our correspondent in São Paulo,
Martin Bernard
, operations went well, until a controversy broke out in the middle of this crucial day.
To block abstention, and encourage participation, the authorities had taken measures.
First, public transport is free.
There was some resistance in one city to this measure, but eventually it was put in place.
Above all, the road police no longer had the right to carry out roadside checks.
However, in one region in particular, irregularities have been reported.
And this region is the Nordeste, the native region of Lula, the poorest in Brazil, where the left is the strongest, and where we have counted a number of illegal controls established by the road police.
Half of the police blocking operations took place in the Nordeste, Lula's stronghold.
Enlightening... https://t.co/N3Ho9GMov9
— Bruno Meyerfeld (@brunomeyerfeld) October 30, 2022
During the day, Workers' Party leaders relayed videos of buses carrying voters being stopped, especially in rural areas.
“
It is unacceptable what is happening at the moment in the Nordeste
”, even declared Lula da Silva on his Telegram account.
►Read again: A divided Brazil goes to the polls to elect its new president
“PRF criminal operation”
Abstention in the poorest regions of Brazil is, of course, a potentially decisive factor.
In a statement, the NGO Human Rights Watch expressed its "
great concern
" over what it described as "
PRF operations that would delay or prevent voters' access to polling stations
".
Monster traffic jams have been recorded as far as Rio de Janeiro, in particular at the level of a filter dam installed on the bridge connecting the megalopolis to Niteroi, on the other side of the bay.
According to
O Globo
, around 100 natives of Querência, state of Mato Grosso, complained that they were unable to go to vote in the absence of public transport.
According
to Folha de São Paulo
, more than 500 filter barrages aimed at controlling coaches were recorded at midday across the country, 70% more than in the first round.
“
The PRF stops coaches that have been chartered.
Buying votes is an electoral crime
,” retorted the Bolsonarist Nikolas Ferreira, elected deputy on October 2.
the bolsonarists already have a justification for blocking the buses: they would be chartered by the PT, therefore a crime.
good game!
it might work https://t.co/4HsPbB8fRY
— Anne Vigna/Brazil (@anmexico) October 30, 2022
The president of its formation, Gleisi Hoffmann, for her part denounced on Twitter "
a criminal operation of the PRF
".
Earlier in the day, she went so far as to demand the arrest of the director of the PRF, Silvinei Vasques, who posted an image on Instagram calling for a vote for Jair Bolsonaro, before deleting it...
"No violation of the right to vote"
Alexandre de Moraes, president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), even had to intervene, at the end of the day, confirming problems, without the latter proving to be in his eyes likely to hinder the smooth running of operations.
He conceded a possible "conflict", however not preventing anyone from voting according to him.
In other words, while the spirits were agitated in the country – lulists attacking sharply the head of the PRF, who publicly supported Jair Bolsonaro on social networks before backpedaling – and that some began to speak of an attempt coup d'etat, the authorities decided to calm things down.
The president of the TSE, Judge Moraes, simply ordered the lifting of filter barriers by the federal road police “
to avoid delays by voters
”, specifying that “
no coach had to turn back
”.
“
There was no infringement of the right to vote
”, he insisted, “
delays
” constituting the only “
possible prejudice
”.
Above all, he ruled out the possibility of delaying the closing of the polls, a request made at the end of the day by supporters of the Workers' Party (PT) - without much hope of success - to ensure that no one had been prevented to formulate his choice for the future of the country, and to increase the pressure.
▶️ Moraes comment operações da PRF e diz que horário de votação não será estendido: 'Todos os eleitores votaram'#JornalOGlobo #Eleicoes2022 pic.twitter.com/Y4pZGrpj12
—Jornal O Globo (@JornalOGlobo) October 30, 2022
In recent days, polling institutes were considering a tight result, Lula winning in these surveys.
If the vote was obviously held without violence, the campaign was brutal.
Everything opposes the two qualified candidates for this second round.
Brazilians, extraordinarily polarized, are now holding their breath.
►Also listen: Pascal Drouhaud: Lula and Bolsonaro "embody a totally different vision of Brazil"
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Brazil
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Jair Bolsonaro