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Brazil’s Supreme Court extended voting hours nationwide by two hours on Sunday, ordering polling stations to stay open until 7 p.m. Brasília time (22:00 GMT). Justice Cristiano Zanin issued the urgent ruling after receiving separate petitions from both presidential candidates, Anadolu Agency reported.
The decision came as incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and conservative Senator Flavio Bolsonaro voted early in a runoff election that polls indicated was too close to call.
Petitions cite transport and weather disruptions
Lula initially asked the Superior Electoral Court and the Supreme Court to extend voting in key metropolitan areas, including Salvador, the capital of Bahia, which has nearly 2 million registered voters, and Sao Paulo, where more than 9 million people are registered.
“What we want is an election done honestly and with everyone having their right to vote,” Lula said in a public address, urging voters not to leave polling lines. “Wait, and vote, because democracy must win.”
The legal challenge followed major transport bottlenecks in Salvador. Municipal officials said at least 75 public buses had been prevented from leaving their garages.
Salvador City Hall alleged that union workers had placed stickers bearing the Workers’ Party (PT) logo and candidate number 13 on public transit vehicles, in violation of federal electoral advertising laws.
The Bahia Regional Electoral Court issued an immediate arrest warrant for Salvador Secretary of Mobility Pablo Souza, citing an electoral crime linked to the reduction in the bus fleet. Federal Police had been unable to execute the warrant because Souza was in Paris on an official government trade mission.
After Lula’s filing, Flavio Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party (PL) submitted a separate request for polling stations to remain open until 7 p.m. in 17 municipalities across Sao Paulo, Parana and Santa Catarina, where torrential rain and flooding had created serious obstacles for voters.
Zanin combined the petitions and ordered a nationwide extension to ensure uniform voting conditions.
Trump says he is monitoring election
The result of the runoff was widely expected to have an impact across Latin America, where recent elections had reflected a broader conservative shift.
Speaking to reporters in Washington on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said he was “closely monitoring” election-day developments in Brazil but did not explicitly endorse either candidate.
