Brazil extends runoff voting and pauses preliminary count

Brazil’s Supreme Court extended voting in the presidential runoff until 7 p.m. on October 25, two hours beyond the scheduled close, prompting the electoral authority to pause its preliminary count. Justice Cristiano Zanin issued the order after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign requested more time, citing public-transport problems that it said were preventing voters from reaching polling places. The extension applied nationwide. Polls had been scheduled to close at 5 p.m. Brasília time, and the electoral authority had already begun publishing results when the order came near that cutoff. Tabulation was paused until voting ends at 7 p.m., after which counting is expected to resume. The first published snapshot covered 0.25% of ballots. It showed Lula with 57.66% and senator Flávio Bolsonaro with 42.34%. Those figures were preliminary and did not establish the national result or a winner. Lula’s campaign alleged that public transport had been restricted in several locations, limiting access to polling stations. Reports of transport problems included areas of Bahia; the campaign’s broader claims were not independently verified in the accounts of the order. The stated...