Municipal Elections in Brazil Kicks Off
People attend a polling station during the first round of municipal elections this Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: EFE/ André Coelho
October 6, 2024 Hour: 1:09 pm
On Sunday, more than 155 million people will cast their vote to elect Mayors, deputy mayors and councillors in 5,569 municipalities around all Brazil amid the ideological tensions between the progressive president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the former ultra-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
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The polling stations opened at 08.00 local time of Brasilia (11.00 GMT) and will be operational until 17.00 (20.00 GMT), although voters who are in line at that time may exercise their right to vote.
In the 103 municipalities with more than 200,000 voters, there will be a second round on 27 October if none of the mayoral candidates exceeds 50% of the votes, while the only of the 27 regional capitals that will not go to the polls is Brasilia, It is part of the Federal District and has a different administrative regime.
São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte are the three municipalities with the highest number of voters, with 9.3 million, 5 million and 1.9 million, respectively, and are 3 of the 103 municipalities with more than 200,000 voters, there will be a second round on 27 October, if none of the candidates for mayor exceeds 50% of the support.
Brazilian legislation determines that voting is mandatory for those aged between 18 and 70 years and optional for illiterate people, young people with 16 and 17 years and for everyone over 70 years.
But it is necessary to be with the electoral title in regular situation and even if the name of the voter does not appear in the voting book of the electoral zone, he may exercise citizenship if his electoral data are included in the register of the electronic ballot box of his electoral zone.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: Agencia Brasil // EFE