Brazil’s general election on October 2 was held in a safe and transparent manner, according to international observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.
Last Sunday, incumbent Jair Bolsonaro took just over 43% of the vote while his opponent, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took just over 48%, forcing a runoff between the political rivals on October 30. Elections were also held for the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate of Brazil and other local offices throughout the country.
In a statement, the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries said that “the use of electronic voting tools, under the specific conditions observed and presented in a publicly recognized process, proved to be reliable and fast and did not cause complaints. “
Of the 140 international election observers who worked in Brazil’s general election, 14 reportedly belonged to the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.
According to their statement, the organization’s observers were distributed in 10 teams present in 50 polling stations where about 12,500 voters were registered.
The OAS also sent representatives to observe Brazil’s electoral process.
According to the head of the mission and former foreign minister of Paraguay, Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, the elections took place in an orderly and normal manner.
In an official statement, the mission said that Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court delivered the results in a professional and timely manner and that all political actors involved recognized those results.
The OAS team included 53 observers and experts from 17 nationalities. They were present in 15 Brazilian states as well as the Federal District. In addition to the action in Brazilian territory, the mission also followed the vote in Miami and Washington, in the United States and in the city of Porto, Portugal.
On election day, OAS observers visited 455 polling stations in 222 locations. In addition, the OAS also monitored the counting and counting of votes in Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court.
The OAS concluded its assessment by saying that the entire trip went smoothly, with no reports of significant incidents.
Before the announcement was made by international election observers, President Bolsonaro, on election night, declined to comment on his confidence in Brazil’s electoral process, saying he would wait for an official review by the military. The army, however, did not say when the report would be submitted. According to reports, the initial expectation was that the document would be ready by Sunday night, but that did not happen.
According to Brazil’s Electoral Court (TSE), of the 472,075 electronic voting machines used in the election, 3,222 – or 0.60% of the total – had to be replaced due to some technical failure.
The court also reported that in one town, Coari in the northwestern state of Amazonas, voting had to be done manually, delaying the results of the Chamber of Deputies elections there.
Millions of Brazilian voters will return to the polls on October 30 to choose the next president of the Republic along with the governors of 12 states, where the runoff elections will also take place.
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