Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) ruled on Tuesday to ban the use of firearms near polling stations on the day of the presidential election.
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The measure will come into effect 48 hours before Election Day and will be extended up to 24 hours after the end of Election Day on October 2nd and October 30th if there is a second ballot.
TSE Judge Ricardo Lewandowski pointed out that no armed person may be less than 100 meters from the polling station, except in exceptional cases by the police.
The proposal defended by Lewandowski found the support of the other members of the electoral court. As a result, the measure was approved unanimously.
The TSE judge acknowledged that Brazil is in a confrontational situation and that political violence affects different groups, right and left.
“The idea behind the ban on the presence of armed persons in the polling station is, of course, to protect the exercise of the right to vote from any actual or potential threat, whatever its origin,” he specified.
“Guns and votes are elements that should not be mixed up,” stresses Minister Ricardo Lewandowski of the TSE, who did not vote on it or urge me to suspend the carrying of guns on election days. I am facilitating a non-TSE session.#DemocracySim #ArmasNão pic.twitter.com/TwFmCKHKLp
– Deputy Alencar Santana – #1358 (@AlencarBraga13)
August 30, 2022
For his part, the head of the TSE, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, warned that carrying war artifacts to the polling station would be seen as an electoral crime and illegal possession of weapons.
On October 2nd, there will be elections to elect president, governors, senators, federal, state and district representatives.
To date, former President and Labor Party candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leads all polls ahead of the presidential election.