Allegations of election meddling in Brazil as Pedro Sánchez takes notes

Brazil's presidential runoff between Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva is being held with the Supreme Court ordering polling stations to stay open two hours longer and with 60% of Brazilians abroad voting for Lula. Unions have mobilised public buses carrying Lula propaganda on the very day of the vote.

Brazil holds the second round of its presidential election this Sunday between **Jair Bolsonaro** and **Lula da Silva**. The system is presidential, as in the rest of the American countries except Canada: the president is elected directly and serves as both head of state and head of government. The right swept the legislative elections, and Bolsonaro came out ahead in the first round of the presidential vote. The third-placed candidate, far behind both of them, is as right-wing or more so than Bolsonaro, which points to a victory for the incumbent president.

## Supreme Court extends voting hours by two hours

Brazil's Supreme Court ordered at the last minute that polling stations stay open for two additional hours. The decision came when some centres had already closed and counted their votes, according to the **BBC**. The extension leaves those polling stations without a clear procedure for what to do with ballots already counted.

The measure affects the logistics of an election day that was expected to be tight. Polling stations that had already completed the count are now faced with an order arriving after they had shut their doors.

## Lula takes 60% of the overseas vote

Among Brazilians living abroad, Lula da Silva won **60%** of the vote, according to data gathered by **Electomania**. It is the equivalent of Spain's CERA vote: the ballot of citizens living overseas. That result contrasts with Bolsonaro's lead in the first round inside Brazil.

The weight of the overseas vote in the overall tally is limited, but the figure feeds the narrative that the electorate outside the country leans towards the Workers' Party candidate.

## Public buses carrying Lula propaganda on election day

On the very day of the vote, hundreds of public buses began circulating with Lula da Silva advertising stickers, according to **El Mundo**. Critics attribute the action to state-funded unions. The coincidence with election day turns public transport into a campaign vehicle in the middle of voting.

Brazilian electoral law bans campaigning on election day. Buses circulating with those stickers while people vote is, at the very least, a conflict that the electoral courts will have to assess if anyone files a complaint.

## What is at stake for Brazil in this runoff

Brazil is Latin America's largest economy, and the outcome of this runoff will shape its fiscal, trade and environmental policy for the next four years. The campaign has been marked by polarisation between Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva, two figures who have already governed the country.

Brazil's electoral institutions have been questioned throughout the process. The extension ordered by the Supreme Court and the propaganda on public buses add further episodes to that distrust. Any reader should treat the data from this election day with the caution appropriate to a count still in pogre: the final figures are published by Brazil's Superior Electoral Court.