The president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) of Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes, revealed that the general director of the Federal Highway Police, Silvinei Vasques, justified the inspection operations of public voter transport “based on the transit code” and guarantees that all buses “went to their final destination and the voters voted.”
“According to the director of the Federal Highway Police, who went to the Superior Electoral Court to explain the exact matter and will document it later, they were carried out based on the Brazilian traffic code. That is to say, a bus with a bald tire, with a broken headlight, without conditions to run, they boarded it and gave it a fine”, said Alexandre de Moraes at a press conference.
The president of the TSE assumes that these actions delayed the arrival of Brazilian citizens to the polls, but did not prevent anyone from voting.
“This, in some cases, delayed the arrival of the voters at the polling station, but in no case did it prevent the arrival of the voters. This is very important, it was precisely this question of interpretation. The inspections were carried out on buses that could not circulate, but these buses never returned to their origin, that is, they continued to their final destination and the voters voted”, he assures.
However, during the meeting between Silvinei Vasques and Alexandre de Moraes “it was determined that all operations cease” from that moment on.
This is the first time in Brazilian history that voters have free transportation to polling places, in a country where participation is mandatory.
According to several Brazilian media, the authority has already carried out more than 500 operations of this type this Sunday. Folha de São Paulo reveals that the number is 70% higher than what happened in the first round, on October 2.
Silvinei Vasques had already used his personal Instagram account to appeal to Jair Bolsonaro’s vote, in which he posted a Brazilian flag and wrote: “Vote 22. Bolsonaro president.”
This Sunday, the Superior Electoral Court also used social networks to ask Brazilian citizens to denounce any type of electoral irregularity with the phrase: “Whoever prevents the population from voting commits an electoral crime.”
Source: TSF
