Polling stations closed this Sunday at 10:00 p.m. French time, as Brazilians flocked to polling stations on Sunday for an election whose incumbent President, Jair Bolsonaro, is threatening to challenge the result, and his left-wing opponent, Lula, expect to win in the first round.
“If the elections are clean, there is no problem. May the best win!” declared the far-right head of state while voting in the morning in Rio de Janeiro.
Annoyed by the insistent questions from the press, Bolsonaro, dressed in the yellow and green jersey of the national soccer team under which he wore a bulletproof vest, did not want to say clearly if he would recognize the result of the survey.
Find a “peaceful country”
Former left-wing president (2003-2010) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva voted shortly beforehand in Sao Bernardo do Campo, a working-class suburb of Sao Paulo.
“For me, this is the most important election,” said the former metalhead, who is in his sixth presidential race to seek a third term, 12 years after leaving power with a stratospheric approval rating (87%).
“We no longer want hatred, discord. We want a country in peace”, he said in reference to the fractures of a very polarized Brazil, which has 214 million inhabitants.
Queues lengthened in front of polling stations in the afternoon, voters often dressed in Bolsonarista yellow and green or Lulista red sometimes having to wait more than an hour to vote due to the crowds.
A vote that was carried out “without problem”
At noon, the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Alexandre de Moraes, assured that the vote was taking place “without problems”, and wanted to “reaffirm the reliability and transparency” of the electronic ballot box system, on many occasions. criticized by Jair Bolsonaro.
He then explained to the press that “all those who wanted to vote before 5 in the afternoon could do so” and that the election day passed “in an absolutely peaceful manner.”
“We will count all the votes today,” he added. “All the results will be announced, in the presence of the TSE ministers, for president, governors, senators and federal or state deputies”, which Brazilians elect this Sunday in the general elections.
The reference institute Datafolha put Lula, 76, at the head of the Workers’ Party (PT), far ahead in the first round, with 50% of the votes cast, compared to 36% for Bolsonaro, 67. years (Liberal Party).
Source: BFM TV
