Lisbon surpassed Boston and Miami, in the USA, and became the city with the most Brazilian voters abroad. The 2022 elections will have 45,273 citizens able to vote in the Portuguese capital, which represents an increase of 113.6% compared to the 2018 election.
The number of Brazilian voters in the country as a whole has also skyrocketed, up 106% in the last four years. With 80,866 people eligible to vote, Portugal overtook Japan and is now the second largest electoral college, behind only the United States.
In Porto, there are currently 30,098 citizens with electoral registration: a jump of 110.4% compared to 2018. The city took sixth place in the ranking of foreign locations with the most voters. In Faro, in the south of Portugal, voters grew by 52% compared to the last elections, now reaching 5,525 voters.
Other countries also recorded an increase. As a result, the number of Brazilian voters abroad in 2022 reached 697,078, an increase of almost 40% compared to the last presidential elections.
Since 2017, Brazilian immigration in Portugal has grown at a significant pace. According to data from the SEF (Foreigners and Borders Service), there are currently around 252,000 legal residents. As the statistics do not include people in an irregular situation or those who have dual citizenship from Portugal or from another European Union nation, it is estimated that there are at least 400,000 Brazilians in the country of Camões.
The new electoral registrations in Portugal, however, also include people who have lived in the country longer, but have only now chosen to transfer the titles.
Consul General of Brazil in Lisbon, Ambassador Wladimir Valler Filho believes that the increase in the number of voters is multifactorial, but the expansion of the community cannot be disregarded.
“I think we have to take into account various factors. Portugal has been, let’s say, almost a priority destination in this Brazilian migration movement. We have seen an increase in recent years”, he said, in an interview with Brazilian journalists this Wednesday. (31).
“Given also that the vote is mandatory, it is natural that, once residing and settling in another country, the citizen will have all the documentation [regularizada]and not only on issues related to staying in the welcoming state”, he adds.
Despite the polarizing climate of the elections, the ambassador played down security concerns. The number of private guards hired by the consulate followed the increase in voters and went from 5 to 10. There will also be a constant presence of Portuguese PSP (Public Security Police) agents.
As in previous years, voting in the Portuguese capital will take place on the premises of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. The number of polling stations, however, more than doubled, from 61 in 2018 to 118 in 2022.
There will be 58 polling stations, against the 28 existing in the previous election. To take care of the process, 232 poll workers were summoned.
The Brazilian consul is keen to point out that only citizens who have transferred their voter registration card and have their registration validated with the TSE will be able to vote. Wladimir Valler Filho also stressed that polling stations abroad do not have transit votes. “Anyone passing through Lisbon will not be able to vote”, he explains.
It will also not be possible to justify the vote in person in Portugal. The process must be done through the TSE’s e-tÃtulo application.
The authorities encourage all voters to download the program in advance and write down the number of the respective polling station.
In 2018, President Jair Bolsonaro, now a candidate for reelection, won handily among voters in Portugal.
