The battle for the Brazilian presidency is tight. The head of the traffic police, who is said to be close to incumbent Bolsonaro, apparently orders several hundred roadblocks and has buses with voters checked - especially in regions where challenger Lula is strong.
During Brazil's presidential election, checkpoints set up by traffic police made it difficult to get to polling stations. These checks at roadblocks delayed the onward journey of buses carrying voters on Sunday, explained the chairman of the Supreme Electoral Court, Alexandre de Moraes. In the meantime, however, the lifting of these barriers, at which vehicles were checked for possible violations of traffic regulations, had been ordered. In the meantime, de Moraes even threatened to dismiss the head of the highway police. He is considered a supporter of incumbent Bolsonaro.
The tightened traffic controls took place in the north-east of the country, where the left-wing opposition candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has particularly strong support. Leaders of Lula's Labor Party (PT) circulated videos online of buses of voters standing still at checkpoints.
"What is accepted in the Northeast is unacceptable," said ex-President Lula, who had a narrow lead over right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the polls before the runoff.
The chief election supervisor, Moraes, later assured that the police controls had only led to a "delay" in voting. None of the buses were instructed by the police to turn around and go back to their place of origin. The right to vote was not violated. Moraes therefore also refused to extend the opening hours of the polling stations.
The newspaper "Folha de São Paulo" reported that there were more than 500 roadblocks in the country by the traffic police on Sunday afternoon. This was 70 percent more than during the first round of the presidential election on October 2nd. In the first round of the presidential election, Lula got 48 percent of the votes, Bolsonaro got 43 percent.
