OAS mission: First round of Brazil elections ran smoothly

The mission formed by observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) have released a follow-up report on the first round of Brazil’s general elections. In the document, submitted to the country’s Superior Electoral Court on Monday (Oct 3), the observers state the vote occurred in an orderly and normal manner.

“The mission salutes the people of Brazil, who turned out to vote yesterday, Sunday [2], to express their will in a peaceful and democratic manner. Under a highly tense and polarized atmosphere, Brazilian citizens showed maturity and civic commitment,” the entity reported.

In the report, the observers also listed the problems encountered by voters, who had to queue to cast their ballots in polling stations across several states. A total of 455 polling stations in 15 states were visited.

Observation

The observers reported difficulties in identifying voters through biometrics and mentioned poll workers who asked everyone to sign the voting book. A signature should be collected only from those who had not completed their biometric registration or those who experienced any issues recognizing it, mission members noted.

“OAS observers reported from the voting centers a large turnout of voters, most with information on the location of their polling stations. In the afternoon, 91 percent of the observed polling stations had long lines of voters—some of whom reported waiting for more than two hours to vote,” the text reads.

Response

Also on Sunday, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, head of the Superior Electoral Court, said that the lines may have been result of the 7.5 million Brazilians who began to choose a candidate (rather than casting a blank or null ballot), the extra second electors were given to confirm their choice, and flaws in biometric reading.

The issues will be scrutinized for the second round, to be held on October 30, Justice Moraes said.

The OAS mission will continue in Brazil and will also observe the run-off.

International observers had been invited to the elections by the court on other occasions. OAS missions also monitored the vote in 2018 and 2020.