Brazil’s electoral authority said Sunday that voting in the presidential runoff will continue only at polling places still open past 5 p.m., with ballot records, counting and results resuming after 7 p.m. under a court order.

The Brazilian Superior Electoral Court (TSE) announced the measure on its official account, describing it as a response to a ruling by Supreme Federal Court justice Cristiano Zanin.

Under the decision, only precincts where balloting had not ended by 5 P.M. Brasilia time could keep receiving voters.

RELATED: Brazil Court Extends Runoff Voting Deadline by 2 Hours Nationwide

Election officials suspended the receipt of printed ballot records, the tally of votes and the release of results, and said all three would resume after 7 P.M. local time.

Voting in Brazil closes nationwide at 5 p.m. in every election. The order by Zanin gives electoral authorities room to let voters cast ballots where local conditions kept lines moving past the cutoff.

Almost all Superior Electoral Court ministers had gathered in the office of the court’s presidency to await the end of balloting, the statement added.

Count After 7 P.M.

The electoral authorities will resume the receipt of the ballot-box bulletins (known as BUs), the totalization of votes and the release of results after 7 P.M. local time. These bulletins are the printed summaries of each electronic voting machine’s tally, and they feed the national count.

Brazil conducts its elections entirely on electronic voting machines managed by the Superior Electoral Court and the regional electoral courts. The system has drawn criticism over transparency, although no case of fraud has ever been confirmed.

The Superior Electoral Court heads the country’s Electoral Justice, which handles voter registration, biometric identification, vote collection, tabulation and the final certification of results.

Sunday’s vote settles the presidency after the October 4 first round produced no outright winner. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro led with 47.03% of valid votes, ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at 45.16%, forcing the runoff held on the last Sunday of October.

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Brazil’s two round model requires a candidate to win more than half (50+1) of valid votes in the first round. Otherwise the top two finishers meet again three weeks later. Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) is the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was barred from office and later endorsed him. Lula da Silva (Worker’s Party -PT) returned to the presidency in 2023 after courts restored his political rights.

Results are expected later Sunday night once tabulation resumes after 7 P.M. The Court has not indicated when it will publish the first partial totals, a schedule that now depends on the pace of the last polling places to close.

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