During Brazil's presidential run-off on October 25, 2026, Lula's campaign reported bus shortages in Bahia and Bolsonaro's campaign cited severe weather. STF Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting until 19:00. Many polling places had already closed before formal notification reached them, and later clarifications limited the extension to machines still open. Lula was declared re-elected. Flávio Bolsonaro rejected the result and announced an annulment challenge, which raises doubts about how the vote was conducted.
Transport problems and campaign requests
- ▪Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign broadened its Superior Electoral Court request beyond the three Bahia cities to other states affected by transport problems
- ▪The initial extension request at the Superior Electoral Court was assigned to the court's president, Nunes Marques
- ▪The Workers' Party took its bus-shortage complaint to the electoral inspectorate
- ▪The Supreme Federal Court extension case was assigned to Justice Cristiano Zanin
- ▪Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign asked the Superior Electoral Court to extend voting until 19:00 in Salvador, Feira de Santana and Lauro de Freitas because of transport problems
- ▪Voting in Brazil's presidential run-off opened with a scheduled nationwide closing time of 17:00
- ▪Electoral inspector Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva requested information about the transport problems
- ▪Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's party federation requested an intervention to release buses including Federal Police action and the arrest of Salvador's transport secretary
- ▪Superior Electoral Court president Nunes Marques requested information from the regional electoral courts, allowing 30 minutes after notification for replies
- ▪The facts of the extension request were brought to the Supreme Federal Court, according to Justice Cristiano Zanin's order
- ▪Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's Workers' Party sought a nationwide extension of voting
- ▪The Workers' Party asked the Supreme Federal Court for a nationwide extension of voting
- ▪Flávio Bolsonaro's extension request reached Superior Electoral Court president Nunes Marques
- ▪Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's party federation alerted the electoral court to bus shortages, alleging that Salvador's bus service was more than 50% below usual levels
- ▪Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign asked for voting to be extended until 19:00 in rain-affected municipalities in São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina, and for public results to be delayed until voting ended
Decision, conflicting instructions and closures
- ▪The original nationwide voting deadline arrived and polling stations began closing
- ▪The president of Santa Catarina's regional electoral court said that the court had not yet received official notification of the extension
- ▪Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting two additional hours past 5 p.m. following Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign complaints regarding Bahia public bus shortages and Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign regarding flooding in 17 municipalities
- ▪The Superior Electoral Court suspended national vote totalization with 1,225 of 499,248 sections processed
- ▪Superior Electoral Court president Nunes Marques signed a circular, instructing still-open polling sections to continue voting until 19:00
- ▪Justice Cristiano Zanin's extension ruling was publicly released
- ▪Justice Cristiano Zanin's extension decision entered the Supreme Federal Court's system
- ▪Electoral prosecutors sent the Superior Electoral Court an opinion, opposing an extension and favoring the statutory closing time and an investigation of the transport problems
Clarification, late notification and challenge
- ▪The president of São Paulo's regional electoral court said that more than 80% of the state's voting machines had already closed when notification of the extension arrived
- ▪Supreme Federal Court Justice Cristiano Zanin clarified that the voting extension applied only where voting machines had not closed
- ▪São Paulo's regional electoral court received formal notification of the Supreme Federal Court decision
- ▪The extended voting window ended and the Superior Electoral Court resumed national vote counting
- ▪Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won re-election in a run-off election, defeating right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro with 51.76% of valid votes to 48.24%
- ▪Flávio Bolsonaro rejected the election result and announced that he would seek its annulment, criticizing the voting extension
- ▪The Superior Electoral Court published a clarification, stating that only sections that had not closed at 17:00 could continue voting and that tallying would resume after 19:00
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