Voting this Sunday (2) ended at 5 p.m. and began counting votes for the 2022 election across the country. Throughout the day, millions of Brazilians went to the polls to choose the governor, senator, state and federal deputies, and president of the republic in the first ballot. Unlike other years, this time the states started voting at the same time, following Brasília time, bringing changes for voters in Acre, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rondônia and Roraima. The innovation was implemented by a decision of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) late last year (see here the voting times in states that have a different time zone than the capital).
Queues in sections in Brazil and abroad
There are reports of queues outside polling stations across the country. In São Paulo, Brazil’s largest electoral college, the delay in meetings was mainly attributed to the collection of data using biometrics. In Rio de Janeiro, voters waited nearly three hours to vote in the town of Duque de Caxias. According to TRE from Rio de Janeiro, the cause of the delay was also related to the reading of fingerprints from the biometrics.
There were also records of queues abroad, in cities like Lisbon, London, Berlin, Milan and Paris. In Portugal, the waiting time was longer than an hour due to the large flow of voters, and the voting time was extended.
TSE is “satisfied” with the way the elections went.
In a press conference in the afternoon, Alexandre de Moraes minimized the delay registered in many polling stations. Throughout the day, voters in several cities complained about queues To their vote. For the President of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), voting is within normal limits.
Moraes also said the election had few incidents and that the panel was “completely satisfied” with the way the election went, echoing a statement he made that morning shortly after registering his vote.
Ballot Box Integrity Test
A little earlier, around 12 noon, Moraes drove to Brasília to monitor the integrity of the ballot boxes.
The minister again defended the security of the electronic voting system and highlighted the implementation of the pilot project, which increased the number of devices tested. “Electoral justice affirms the transparency, security and auditability of electronic voting machines,” he said.
The proposal to increase the number of ballot boxes that pass the integrity test was accepted by the TSE at the suggestion of the Bundeswehr. “Today, regardless of the outcome, I have only one certainty: the big winner of the Brazilian elections will be Brazilian society,” concluded the President of the TSE.
Rosab Weber voted in Brasilia in the early afternoon
Rosa Weber, President of the Federal Court of Justice (STF), voted at around 3 p.m. at a school in Asa Sul in Brasília. As she left the polling station, the minister spoke to journalists at a press conference about the importance of democracy.
“Today is an important day for all of us, Brazilians, because it is a day to celebrate democracy. This democracy, which unites us in our differences and which ensures that people consciously and independently determine the destiny of our country through the affirmation of its sovereign will,” she said.
The minister also wished that today was a commitment to the sovereignty of the people: “I very much hope that in the future we can look at October 2, 2022 and come to the conclusion that it was a commitment to our democratic constitutional state . “
Lula and Bolsonaro vote and comment on the possible outcome of the election
Two of the main candidates for the presidency of the republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Jair Bolsonaro (PL), cast their ballots early in the election. Lula voted for ABC Paulista at around 8:40 a.m. in the city of São Bernardo do Campo. Bolsonaro voted around 9 a.m. in Rio de Janeiro.
Jair Bolsonaro was voting at the Escola Municipal Rosa da Fonseca in Vila Militar, west of Rio de Janeiro, and on his way out he was met by a group of supporters waiting to see and speak to the president. When asked by journalists if he would accept the election result, he reiterated what he said live on Saturday night: “It’s the first ballot.”
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva posed for the cameras after the vote and kissed the ballot paper handed out by poll workers. Speaking to the press, he recalled being detained at the Federal Police Headquarters in Curitiba during the 2018 elections and said that the 2022 election was the most important for him.
Simone Tebet, Felipe D’Avila and Ciro Gomes voted in their respective states
The MDB candidate for the presidency, Simone Tebet, voted this morning at the Lucia Martins Coelho State School in Campo Grande (MS). She spoke briefly to the press and supporters and when asked if her father, former governor of Mato Grosso do Sul Ramez Tebet (died 2006), would be proud of her running for the Planalto, she joked, “Don’t let me not emotional because today is not a day to cry”.
Then, in a press conference, Simone Tebet also spoke about this year’s campaign: “Unfortunately, we saw how ideological polarization contaminated the soul of the Brazilian people. Proposals and real solutions to Brazil’s real problems”.
Felipe D’Avila, presidential candidate of the New Party, voted for the Colégio Mater Dei in Jardim Paulista in São Paulo and reiterated that he would not support anyone in a possible second round if Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Jair Bolsonaro (PL ) ) further in dispute.
“As I have said several times, the New Party will express itself neutrally in the second ballot. As I said, I will not support either populist. This whole campaign aims to offer the Brazilian an alternative, that there is a candidacy that is not populist. Unfortunately, populism will continue to undermine Brazilian democracy and freedom. Our candidacy is exactly a counterpoint to that,” he claimed.
Presidential candidate Ciro Gomes (PDT) voted around 11 a.m. at the headquarters of the State of Ceará Health Department in Praia de Iracema in Fortaleza. He came accompanied by his entire family and some political allies, such as the candidate for governor of Ceará and the mayor of Fortaleza, José Sarto.
In an interview on the way out of the polling station, Ciro Gomes told journalists that after this election he intends not to run again. In his opinion, this decision is due to one circumstance: “If I win, I want to trade my reelection for the reform that the country needs and which was thrown in the trash in exchange for a tragic power project for the country. I don’t win, I do wants to help young people to think without the suspicion of running for office.”
Elections outside of Brazil
According to the TSE Bulletin, as of 12:00 this Sunday, Brazilian voters in 59 countries had already completed their election for the President of the Republic. However, the results will not be announced until 17:00 GMT when voting closes across the country.
The counting of the elections is broadcast in real time on Gazeta do Povo
More than 156 million Brazilian voters are eligible to vote in the 2022 elections this Sunday (2) at 94,000 polling stations in 5,570 municipalities in Brazil and 181 cities abroad. Next, the counting of the votes by the electoral court begins with realtime transmission on the website of the People’s Gazette.
From the executive branch, the posts of president and vice president of the republic and governor and lieutenant governor of the 26 states and the federal district are disputed. The national legislature is also at stake a third of the 81 seats in the Senate one for each unit of the federation and the 513 seats in the House of Representatives. This Sunday, the voters still have the task of electing the state (or district, in the case of the DF) MPs. According to the TSE, more than 27,000 suitable candidates apply for all of these positions.
Voting news in the 2022 election
In addition to the nationwide uniform voting schedule, there are other news in the 2022 elections. One is that some voters will encounter a new model of electronic voting machines. The TSE bought 224,000 new machines for these elections, a renewal of nearly half of the 577,000 ballot boxes that will be in use this Sunday. Check out the main differences between the two models here.
Speaking of ballot boxes, for this year’s elections, the TSE has increased the number of devices that pass the electronic ballot box integrity test on Election Day to 641. In addition, a pilot project is being carried out at 56 polling stations in 19 states in which electronic voting machines with biometric approval are being tested (see How it works).
New rules for using cell phones and carrying guns also came into force. Voters who have their mobile phones in the polling area must switch off the device and hand it in at the polling station before going to the polling booth. According to the TSE, the measure aims to guarantee one of the most important aspects of democracy: the secrecy of the vote.
Regarding gun ownership, an election justice resolution bans those who carry firearms—whether they are civilians (even if they have a gun) or members of the security forces who are not on duty with the election justice system—from carrying them less than 100 meters to approach from the polling stations. The only exception is when security officers on general police duty go to vote on election day. Here is a list of service stories related to the 2022 election.
At least eight states will apply a “dry law” during the election period, restricting the sale of alcoholic beverages this Sunday: Acre, Amazonas, Ceará, Roraima, Rio Grande do Norte, Maranhão, Mato Grosso do Sul and Tocantins. The rules vary from state to state. Paraná this Sunday even announced the ban on the consumption of alcoholic beverages between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., but the stipulation was lifted this Friday (30) by the State Secretariat for Public Security.