Request to extend voting hours will be evaluated, says Marques

The president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Minister Kassio Nunes Marques, said that requests to extend the voting time in localities that had difficulties in transporting voters will be analyzed “in the right time”.

“There is already a demand for the TSE in this regard and this will be analyzed in due course,” Nunes Marques said during a news conference at the headquarters of the Electoral Court in Brasilia.

In Salvador, for example, proceedings conducted by the Regional Electoral Court of Bahia (TRE-BA) found that less than 50% of the scheduled bus fleet for working days was in circulation.

The president of TRE-BA, Mauricio Kertzman Szporer, ordered the arrest of the municipal secretary of Mobility, Pablo Souza. In a note, the city of Salvador reported that the buses were held for the removal of stickers from the PT, glued the day before, which prevented the circulation of vehicles.

The Brazil of Hope federation (Fé Brasil), which supports the president and re-election candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, triggered the TSE and requested the extension of the voting time until 7 p.m. in these municipalities.

In a decision issued on Sunday afternoon (25), the co-director general of Justiça Eleitoral, Minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, reinforced the guarantee that voters who are at the polling place at 5 pm, the official time of the end of the poll, even in the outdoor area or in the access roads, will have ensured the right to vote through the distribution of passwords.

According to the electoral rules approved by TSE and a decision of Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), those responsible for the transport of passengers are obliged to ensure 100% circulation of the bus fleet on the day of the vote.