Polling Stations Close and Votes Counting Begins in Brazil’s Municipal Elections
A person walks down a street covered with candidate flyers during the municipal election day this Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: EFE/ Isaac Fontana
October 6, 2024 Hour: 4:58 pm
The polling stations in Brazil closed their doors this Sunday and the electronic counting of votes in the municipal elections began, in which the country elects mayors and councilors of 5,569 cities, as in five municipalities in the country, the electorate participated in popular consultations.
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The data will be disclosed as the votes from the voters are sent from the polling stations to the court and it allows to be consulted live through the Electoral Tribunal web pages.
The elections proceeded in a “calm” manner, according to Judge Cármen Lúcia Antunes, president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the body responsible for organizing electoral processes in Brazil, who stated this at the end of the day.
The magistrate stated that there were no significant incidents and reaffirmed the security of the electronic voting system, which is unfoundedly distrusted by the more right-leaning electorate.
“All the measures that were adopted, all of them, regarding security, the safety of voters, the proper arrival of the ballot boxes to the locations, everything that was previously adopted, all the measures taken, have now demonstrated their effects. Voters have been going to the polls across Brazil since 8 in the morning, Brasília time, and we have a very significant number of people present,” Lúcia Antunes said.
According to the latest official bulletin, the Federal Police took at least 64 people to the police station this Sunday for various electoral crimes, such as irregular campaigning and vote buying, and seized about 185,000 reais (34,000 dollars or 31,000 euros) in cash.
The second round of the dispute may be held on October 27 in 103 municipalities with more than 200,000 voters, in which none of the candidates for mayor achieve more than half of the valid votes, excluding blank and null votes, in the first round.
São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are the two municipalities with the highest number of voters in these municipal elections, with 9.3 million and 5 million, respectively.
In São Paulo, polls anticipate a technical tie between the deputy and Lula’s candidate, Guilherme Boulos; the current mayor Ricardo Nunes, backed by Bolsonaro; and the digital influencer and ultra businessman Pablo Marçal.
In Rio, all indications suggest that the mayor Eduardo Paes, supported by Lula, will win in the first round against Alexandre Ramagem, who led the Brazilian Intelligence Agency during Bolsonaro’s government (2019-2022) and is currently being investigated for an alleged illegal spying scheme.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: EFE // Brasil de Fato // Agencia Brasil
