Brazil’s final polling stations closed at 7 p.m. local time Sunday, ending a two-hour Supreme Court extension and clearing the way for the vote count to resume in the presidential runoff.
The official cutoff had been set for 5 P.M. local time but the Supreme Federal Court pushed it back two hours as the original deadline arrived. Under the decision, only precincts where balloting had not ended by 5 P.M. Brasilia time could keep receiving voters.
The last polling stations in Brazil shut their doors at 7 P.M. Brasilia time on Sunday, marking the end of an extraordinary two-hour window that the Supreme Court had ordered only minutes before the original deadline.
Once the extended voting period concluded, election officials formally closed the polls and resumed the nationwide vote count.
The Court’s notification arrived shortly after 5 P.M., when voting was already due to close. By that point, hundreds of polling stations had finished the day’s work, printed their ballot bulletins and even begun shipping equipment to the regional electoral courts.
The definitive shutdown shifted attention to the Superior Electoral Court, which prepared to restart the count. Officials had frozen it six minutes after it began, when only 0.25% of ballots had been processed.
With counting now underway once again, millions of Brazilians are awaiting the official results that will determine the country’s next President who will govern Brazil from 2027 to 2031. The outcome is expected to shape Brazil’s political direction, economic priorities, and international relations over the coming years.
For now, the process rests on the resumed tally. The coming hours will show whether the early lead holds as ballot bulletins arrive from across the South American country.
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.
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.
Esclarecimento sobre prorrogação da votação
O Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (@TSEjusbr) informa que, conforme decisão do ministro Cristiano Zanin, do Supremo Tribunal Federal, a eleição segue em andamento apenas nos locais em que a votação não havia sido encerrada às 17h.
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.
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.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court ordered polling stations to remain open nationwide until 7:00 P.M. Brasilia time on Sunday, extending the runoff vote after both candidates asked for more time.
Federal Supreme Court Minister Justice Cristiano Zanin issued the ruling, which pushed the deadline back from the original schedule set for the second round between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro. The change applied across all of Brazil.
The precautionary measure, with immediate effect, extends by two hours the closing of the polling stations, which was set for 5:00 P.M. Brasilia time., and applies to all electoral sections in Brazil. The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) is responsible for executing it.
“Considering the gravity of the facts presented, which reached the Supreme Federal Court at 4:32:49 P.M. today, and given the evident urgency of the measure, I order a two-hour extension, until 7:00 p.m. Brasilia time, of the closing of vote reception at all polling stations in Brazil,” Zanin detailed.
The decision came after the campaigns of Lula and Bolsonaro had requested to extend the schedule due to transportation problems in some cities and difficulties due to rains in other areas of Brazil.
The request had spanned three states, reflecting concern that severe weather could depress turnout across a wide stretch of southern and southeastern Brazil. However, Zanin’s ruling went beyond the listed municipalities, extending the schedule across the entire country rather than only in the rain-affected locations.
Confira abaixo o Ofício da Presidência do @TSEjusbr sobre o cumprimento da decisão do Supremo Tribunal Federal sobre a prorrogação do horário das Eleições 2026. pic.twitter.com/1c3D0s3LhA
The extension added two hours to the voting day. Polling stations that would have closed in the late afternoon remained open into the evening, giving voters in affected regions more time to reach their designated locations.
The Supreme Court’s nationwide extension acknowledged that voters beyond those municipalities could also face obstacles reaching polling places before the original deadline. The ruling treated the request as grounds for a broader safeguard covering the whole electorate.
With the later cutoff in place, authorities reminded citizens that anyone already in line at 7:00 P.M, local time would still be allowed to cast a ballot.
Officials have described the unified national schedule as a way to reduce confusion in a country of continental scale. The legal maneuvering unfolded on a day already marked by isolated logistical incidents. The extension gave electoral authorities additional time to process voters in the states most exposed to severe weather, while keeping the process unified from north to south.
Brazil’s top electoral authority reported a generally calm second-round vote on October 25, as more than 158.7 million registered citizens chose the country’s next head of State and renewed regional executives across the nation.
The preliminary report had confirmed the preventive replacement of 900 ballot boxes that presented technical failures, a figure representing only 0.18% of the equipment installed nationwide. The electoral body also maintains more than 48,000 contingency devices ready for deployment in the event of any operational problem.
The public security balance described a day characterized by widespread calm and a low rate of irregularities at voting centers. Security forces counted 138 isolated events, including attempts to violate the secrecy of the ballot and three cases of alleged vote buying.
The second round follows the first-round vote held earlier in October. In the first round, on October 4, far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) got 47.03% of the valid vote, while President Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party-PT), received 45.16%, in a process marked by extreme polarization. Brazil’s electoral system requires a runoff when no candidate secures an outright majority in the opening round, concentrating the contest between the two leading contenders.
The court highlighted that Brazil’s electronic ballot box system marked 30 years of uninterrupted operation. Following this, the court has emphasized that the electronic voting platform delivers preliminary results within hours of polls closing, a feature officials point to as evidence of the system’s efficiency.
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