00:08This Sunday, millions of Brazilians vote in a run-off election that will decide the country's future.
00:14The contest pits incumbent President Lula da Silva against right, far-right candidate Flavio Bolsonaro.
00:21And now we go with Brian Muir, who is in São Paulo, with details about the situation in the South
00:27American largest country.
00:29Hello, Brian. What's the atmosphere in São Paulo at this hour?
00:36Well, things happening with the elections right now.
00:39Now, all day long, I've been saying that the vote count was going to probably finish by around 9 p
00:43.m., as it did in the first round.
00:45However, as the afternoon went on, more and more reports came out of different locations around Brazil,
00:52where the right-wing local governments were doing things to impede poor people from making it to the polling stations,
00:59the polling centers, here in São Paulo, on the periphery of the city, they shut down 40% of the
01:06buses.
01:07We talked to a woman here who just missed getting in the doors,
01:11who said it took her an hour and 40 minutes to get here from where she was this morning.
01:14Now, the PT publicly requested for the transportation minister of both São Paulo and the city of Salvador Bahia,
01:25which is Brazil's sixth largest city, to be arrested for deliberately blocking people from voting.
01:31As that was happening, other reports came out.
01:34In Pará, in Belém, they said the ferry boats stopped running to bring people from the countryside to the city
01:41to vote.
01:41In Petrolina, the largest city in the interior of the northeast, there were similar complaints of buses not running.
01:49So, due to court orders, the buses were re-established for free in Salvador and São Paulo and other locations
01:57across the country.
01:58And as this was happening, after they'd shut the doors at this polling station here in São Paulo,
02:04I saw a security guard go out and reopen the doors, and I saw new voters come in.
02:08After 5 p.m., he told me that they just received an order from the electoral court system
02:15to reopen the doors and to allow voting to continue until 7 p.m.
02:20About 5 minutes later, the director of this voting center came out and locked the door again,
02:25locked the gates into the voting center.
02:27And what they told me was that it's impossible to start to reopen a ballot box, an electronic voting box,
02:35if it's already been turned off, and that the order came from the superior electoral courts
02:41too late for them to keep voting going until 7 p.m.
02:45Since that happened, I've seen a couple other late voters arrive at the gates and ask what's going on
02:50and leave dejected because it seems like the information was spread nationwide
02:54that the vote would be extended until 7 p.m.
02:58I don't know, because I've been standing here this whole time, if it's just this voting center
03:02or if other voting centers around the country have shut their doors at 5 p.m.
03:07and some have remained open until 7 p.m.
03:09We'll only find out in the next few minutes what's really happening.
03:13But if it's been proven that voters were blocked from making it to the polling station
03:19and then they were unable to extend the deadline for voting, then this represents a major electoral crime.
03:39And I don't know how they're going to be able to deal with it, really, frankly.
03:44And let me ask you something, with over 33 million people abstaining in the first round,
03:51and how important it is to turn out for the outcome of today's runoff election,
03:59in the midst of everything that you have been explaining, such as transportation and everything that has happened today.
04:09It's extremely important, and especially because if what the Workers' Party and other people are complaining about is actually true,
04:18if conservative efforts were made to block poor people from making it to the voting station,
04:24remembering that poor people voted for Lula at a 2 to 1 ratio against Bolsonaro in the first round,
04:32then people who, well, voter participation, an increase in voter participation will be fundamental for this election result.
04:45And from what I saw on the streets today, it looked like participation was higher than it was in the
04:53first round,
04:54at least in the voting centers that I visited.
04:56And I know several people who didn't vote in the first election who said they were going to vote this
05:00time around.
05:01So I guess we'll just find out if the increase in voter participation outweighs the number of votes that were
05:10lost because of transportation issues or not,
05:12when the voting finishes tonight, when the vote counting finishes tonight.
05:19Thank you. Thank you, Ryan, very much.
05:21We're going to keep in contact with you in upcoming Emissions to Know More,
05:24and also as the day evolves and everything comes to a wrap today.
05:29So thank you very much. We'll be right back to you in a few hours.
