The controversy swells in Brazil. The president of the country’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) announced on Sunday October 30 the lifting of filter barriers by the federal road police (PRF) which had “delayed the arrival of voters” at polling stations for the presidential election, while the left cried foul.
“The lifting of these operations was decided to avoid voter delays” in the offices, said Alexandre Moraes, president of the TSE, at a press conference, just over an hour from the closing of the polls (9 p.m. in Paris).
Leaders of the Workers’ Party (PT, left) relayed on social networks many videos of buses transporting voters at a standstill, especially in rural areas of the Northeast, electoral stronghold of ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.“It is unacceptable what is happening at the moment in the Northeast”, has also deplored Lula, favorite of the polls, on his Telegram account.
The President of the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) clarified that, despite the delays, “no coach turned back and all voters were able to vote”.
Saturday evening, the TSE had decided the“prohibition of any operation of the PRF which would harm the transport of voters” sunday. PT President Gleisi Hoffmann announced on Twitter that she had called for the arrest of PRF director Silvinei Vasques for “no respect” of this TSE decision. The director of a federal traffic police is aA very controversial personality: on Sunday morning, he had published in an Instagram story an image in which he called for a vote for the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
According to the daily Folha de S. Paulo, more than 500 filter barriers aimed at controlling buses were registered at midday across the country, 70% more than in the first round, on October 2.