Sao Paulo, 2 October (EFE).- The presidential, parliamentary and regional elections in Brazil usually take place in their first hours this Sunday, with few registered cases of problems in electronic ballot boxes and electoral crimes, the authorities reported.
According to the latest Bulletin of Electoral Justice, released at 11:40 a.m. local time (2:40 p.m. GMT), during the nearly four hours of voting, 1,374 electronic ballot boxes had to be replaced due to various errors, representing barely 0.29% of the total , which has been installed across the country (472,075).
According to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, 130 people were temporarily arrested in the first three hours of the election for various violations of the election law, ranging from propaganda activities in favor of candidates to alleged attempts at bribery.
One of those latest cases was recorded in the Amazonian state of Amapá, where a person was arrested near a polling center with 19,000 reais (about $3,800) in cash and is being investigated for alleged vote-buying in favor of some regional candidates who have not been identified.
The 2022 election, the most polarized since Brazil regained democracy in 1985, was marked by a climate of tension between former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the big favorite in voter intent polls, and current President Jair Bolsonaro, he is looking for re-election.
The polarization between the main candidates also extended to their supporters, with some instances of attacks and deaths motivated by political infighting in recent days.
Amidst this tense scenario, Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) President Alexandre de Moraes told journalists after the vote in Sao Paulo that the day had passed “quietly and safely”.
On this day, which began at 08:00 local time (11:00 GMT) and ends at 17:00 (20:00 GMT), approximately 156.4 million electors are called upon to represent the President, the 27 governors and to elect the 513 deputies to a third of the Senate and to renew the representatives in the regional legislative assemblies.
Once polling stations across the country close, which will be the first to happen on a consistent schedule, the TSE will begin distributing the first bulletins of official results.