Brazil’s Supreme Court Orders Polls Open Two Extra Hours After Transport Complaints

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Sunday ordered polling stations across the country to keep receiving votes until 7 p.m. Brasília time, extending the usual deadline by two hours after complaints that disruptions in public transport were preventing some voters from reaching the polls.

The emergency ruling by Supreme Federal Court Justice Cristiano Zanin changed election-day operations nationwide and, according to Agência Brasil and other Brazilian outlets, also affected the count after some voting sections had already closed. Those reports said the Superior Electoral Court, known as the TSE, halted the totalization of votes already underway after Zanin’s order.

Zanin’s decision came in response to a complaint from the reelection coalition of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which alleged restrictions or reductions in public transport service in multiple cities on Sunday. Agência Brasil reported that the filing submitted to the TSE cited problems in nine states: Bahia, São Paulo, Alagoas, Pernambuco, Roraima, Piauí, Paraíba, Pará and Rio de Janeiro.

Multiple Brazilian outlets and legal news services identified the case as Reclamação 101.673, stemming from a petition against acts by municipal governments in Bahia, including Salvador, Feira de Santana and Lauro de Freitas. Agência Brasil separately reported that the complaint cited local evidence including a finding by Bahia’s consumer protection agency, Procon-BA, that 370 buses were parked in garages in Salvador. That was presented as part of the complainants’ factual basis, not as proof of conditions nationwide.

In the order, as reproduced by Agência Brasil, Zanin wrote: “Considerando a gravidade dos fatos narrados, que chegaram ao conhecimento do Supremo Tribunal Federal em 16:23:49, da data de hoje, e diante da urgência na medida, determino prorrogação por até duas horas, até às 19h, horário de Brasília, do encerramento do recebimento dos votos em todas as seções do Brasil, cabendo ao TSE dar cumprimento.”

The ruling was issued individually and directed the TSE, the court that administers voting, tabulation and election operations in Brazil, to carry out the extension. The Supreme Federal Court, or STF, can intervene through urgent constitutional remedies and order the electoral court to act.

The complaint rested on an existing legal framework on voter access. Brazil’s Supreme Court had previously ruled that public authorities must ensure free and adequate public transport on election days, and the TSE incorporated that requirement into its rules for the 2026 elections. That precedent formed the basis for the coalition’s argument that alleged transport cuts were interfering with the right to vote.

The immediate operational effect went beyond keeping polling places open longer. Agência Brasil reported that, after Zanin’s decision, the TSE ordered a stop to the totalization of votes from sections that had already closed. Other Brazilian outlets reported the same development. No separate TSE operational note was immediately available here, so that aspect remains attributed to Brazilian media reports.