Ora Pois: Voting in Lisbon will have reinforcement to avoid giant queue in the 2nd round

The elections in Lisbon, the city abroad with the largest number of Brazilian voters, were marked by long lines and waiting times that exceeded three hours. To try to prevent the scenario from repeating itself in the second round, the Brazilian Consulate in the Portuguese capital, responsible for organizing the election, says that it is “already working” with possible changes.

Due to the large flow of voters, the authorities chose to extend the voting time by three hours last Sunday (2). The decision was made when, less than 30 minutes before the polls were scheduled to close, there were still at least 3,000 people in line.

“The structure for the second round will be reinforced, based on the experience of the first”, says the consulate, which informs that the details should be announced “in the course of the next few weeks”.

For the entity, the problem was the result of the combination of the significant increase in the number of people eligible to vote in Lisbon – a growth of 113.6% compared to 2018, reaching 45,273 voters – and the drop in abstention compared to previous elections. .

“The combination of these factors resulted in the turnout of 20,266 voters at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon last Sunday. It is a record number, almost triple the number of Brazilian voters who voted in 2018”, says the consulate.

The entity also states that “the phenomenon of queues was not exclusive to Lisbon, having been registered in other cities abroad and even in Brazil”.

Manuela Martins, who acted as electoral inspector, says that there were still many Brazilians who went to the place to try to vote, even if they had not previously registered.

“There was a contingent of people who were unaware of the need to have transferred their voter registration card by May 4 to be able to vote in Lisbon”, he says.

The lack of knowledge of the mandatory transference of the electoral domicile and the inexistence of voting in transit abroad may have helped to increase the queue.

The result of the first round in the city favored the PT candidate. Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) emerged victorious from the Lisbon polls, with 61.47% of the valid votes, while Jair Bolsonaro (PL) registered 30.69%.