Brazil postpones by two hours the closing of the polling stations

São PauloThe second round of the Brazilian presidential elections has led to unprecedented chaos due to the deliberate reduction of the bus fleet, which is free on election day, by a series of mayoralties governed by the far-right, allies of candidate Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party). The measure sought to punish the movement of the popular sectors, who depend on public transport because they do not have a private vehicle, and who constitute the electoral base of the candidate for reelection, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party).

At the request of the left-wing candidacy, Supreme Court judge Cristiano Zanin, who was Lula's lawyer and who has joined the court in this legislature, has determined that the closing of the polling stations be extended by two hours until seven in the evening, Brasília time. The decision arrived minutes before five in the afternoon, which caused generalized bewilderment, because some of the polling stations had already closed the electronic ballot box and had sent the results to the Electoral Justice.

Everything originated in Salvador, capital of the state of Bahia, one of the bastions of the Brazilian left, even though its mayor is an ally of Bolsonaro. The Workers' Party (PT) denounced, as early as the morning, that the bus fleet was circulating with fewer vehicles than usual. After it was confirmed that 252 vehicles remained in the garages to hinder the movement of voters, the Electoral Justice ordered the arrest of the Secretary of Mobility. Only two hours before the closing of the polling stations, the entire fleet began to circulate in the Bahian capital.

Generalized problem

From this point on, it became known that the problem was spreading with a kind of domino effect, because the same situation was repeating itself in São Paulo, the country's main city, with 9.4 million voters, whose mayor, Ricardo Nunes, is an ally of the Bolsonaro clan. According to the PT's complaint, only 60% of the bus fleet was operating, and in some peripheral neighborhoods, with a majority of left-wing voters, the proportion was even lower than on a weekend without elections.

Lula da Silva made a public appearance two hours before the closing of the polling stations in São Bernardo do Campo, where he has his residence and where he voted, to request that voting hours be extended. “We will not allow theft, banditry, or delinquent mayors. We will not tolerate the banditry or the lack of honesty of mayors, governors, and transport entrepreneurs,” he indicated in a very harsh tone. The president denounced that the same situation was repeating itself in cities across the country.

The organized boycott attempt recalled what happened four years ago, with Jair Bolsonaro in the presidency, when the Federal Highway Police (PRF) carried out checks on roads in the northeast to curb the Lulista vote. As the Supreme Court determined, the action was part of the initial phase of the attempted coup d'état that the president and a part of the military leadership would carry out.