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Presidential elections in Brazil: Justice prohibits the carrying of weapons in polling stations

The Brazilian Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) announced on Tuesday that it has decided to impose a ban on the carrying of weapons in polling stations in the October 2 presidential election.

Weapons will be prohibited inside polling stations and within a radius of 100 meters around them 48 hours before the start of the process and up to 24 hours after, excluding only members of the law enforcement forces, the court clarified.

This measure, adopted unanimously by the TSE, will also be applied in case a second round is held on October 30.

Judge Hicardu Lewandowski justified the measure citing the atmosphere of political polarization and “conflict” and the large increase in gun permits.

He also recalled that both the far-right outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro and his center-left rival, former head of state Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, have received threats in recent weeks. Both appeared wearing bulletproof vests at their campaign rallies.

“The idea behind the ban is to protect the exercise of the right to vote from any threat,” explained the judge, who spoke of the risk of incidents similar to the invasion of the US federal Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In 2018, the year he won the election, Mr. Bolsonaro was attacked with a knife by a mentally disturbed person during a pre-election rally, he was very seriously injured.

According to the Datafolha institute, Lula is leading the race with 47% of voter intentions, compared to 32% for Jair Bolsonaro. Other polls have Lula with a narrower lead.

The security of the candidates in the presidential elections is of particular concern to the Brazilian authorities.

In early July, a member of Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) was murdered while celebrating his fiftieth birthday by a police officer, a supporter of Mr. Bolsonaro, in Foz do Iguaçu (south).

Last week, the TSE instructed voters to leave their mobile phones with polling agents before going to vote, to ensure the “confidentiality” of voting and to avoid “coercion”.

SOURCE: AMPE

Source: Capital

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