Brazil Pauses Presidential Vote Count After Supreme Court Extends Voting Hours

Brazil’s electoral authority paused an early vote count after the Supreme Court extended voting in the country’s presidential election by two hours.

Voting extended after transport request

Polls that were initially scheduled to close at 5pm Brasilia time will now close at 7pm.

The extension was requested by President Lula’s campaign, which cited public transport issues in three cities in the state of Bahia.

Supreme Justice Cristiano Zanin accepted the request, with his decision coming around the original 5pm cut-off.

By that point, the electoral court had already begun publishing early-stage results, leading the electoral authority to pause the count.

The change in closing time interrupted the release of preliminary results that had already started to show a lead for Lula.

Early results showed Lula ahead

The election is a contest between leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.

Flavio Bolsonaro is the son of convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The early count was based on 0.25 per cent of ballots when Zanin’s decision arrived.

At that stage, Lula had 57.66 per cent of the votes, while Bolsonaro had 42.34 per cent, according to the early results.

The Supreme Court’s order therefore changed the polling deadline after the electoral court had already begun reporting figures from the presidential election.

Source: South China Morning Post