Brazil extends polling hours by
Photo: Bruna Prado/AP/TT

Brazil extends polling hours by two hours after candidates’ requests

Brazil’s Supreme Court has decided to extend polling station opening hours across the country by two hours after both presidential candidates requested it.

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Opening hours will be extended to 7:00 p.m. local time in the capital, Brasília (11:00 p.m. Swedish time), after left-wing President Lula da Silva and right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro both requested it, Bloomberg reports.

Lula says many voters have been "prevented from voting" after buses were taken out of service in São Paulo and several other cities.

"We ask the Supreme Court to extend the election process so that those who were in practice prevented from voting - due to the mayor's ugly methods - can still cast their vote," he said, according to AFP.

Bolsonaro, for his part, requested extensions in states where he says bad weather has caused delays for voters.

When he cast his vote in Rio de Janeiro earlier in the day, Bolsonaro, the son of imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro, said the country needs "real change."

"Brazil cannot handle four more years of this. Everyone's life has become worse," he said, according to the AP.

“Very expensive”

Fabianne Borges Santoro, a 45-year-old physiotherapist in Rio de Janeiro, is one of those who agrees. She is voting for change, both in terms of safety and the cost of living.

"Everything is very expensive and the taxes are too high," she tells AP.

Voters for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in turn, praise the president's efforts at social reforms, which critics say have cost too much.

"Even though people call it handouts, it has been a huge help to us. Anyone who has ever gone hungry knows that you should not take these programs for granted," Walter dos Santos, 56, from Lula's home region in northeastern Brazil, where the president has strong support, told AFP.

The difference between the candidates is large. Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro have widely differing views on most issues, from climate change and social welfare to relations with the United States.

“Ethically unqualified”

When Lula casts his vote in the state of São Paulo, he criticizes Bolsonaro's close ties to the United States and its president, Donald Trump.

“The right wants to govern with the American flag,” he says, according to Brazilian broadcaster Globo, and attacks his opponent:

“I could never have imagined that I would be running in an election against someone so morally and ethically unqualified.”

In the first round of the election on October 4, Lula received just over 45 percent of the vote, while Bolsonaro received 47 percent. Since neither received more than 50 percent, the matter will be decided in today's second round.

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AuthorTT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers
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