STF Justice’s Midnight Rule Change Fuels Chaos Claims as Bolsonaro Ally Demands Scrutiny of Opened Machines
Pablo Marçal stood outside election headquarters Sunday night, furious, as word spread that STF Justice Cristiano Zanin had ordered voting extended to 7 p.m. after the official 5 p.m. close. The businessman and close Flávio Bolsonaro ally called the move a direct bypass of the Superior Electoral Court and the first such override since Brazil’s return to democracy.
“Zanin just made this decision that simply crosses the Superior Electoral Court. He just proved that we don’t need Electoral Justice, right? Because it was in Cássio’s hands, this is suppression of instance and in fact it is the first time this has happened since redemocratization. For me it is a shame, an absurdity,” Marçal told reporters. “The decision arrives at 5:04 p.m. without notification to the Superior Electoral Court, nor any TRE of any state. The ballot boxes were already closed and there is no way to open a ballot box again. This is absurd, wanting to create chaos. The PT brought this absurd narrative, wanting to contemplate some fable to prove that they lost by the vote.”
Officials said the extension responded to transport shortages and weather problems reported by both sides. Marçal countered that the scale did not justify a nationwide pause in tabulation. “What came out in the press itself is that because of storms and weather only 17 cities were requested from one side and the PT requested two. 17 plus 2 makes 19. Now leaving 5,569 cities waiting for the count is absurd.”
He said his campaign had already told poll watchers to stay at their sections. Most reported that voting had finished on time and sections could not be reopened. “Interesting that by the notification deadline, who left the ballot box open after the deadline? The ballot box had to be closed and sealed at 5 p.m. sharp. That already shows a mismatch of justice, suppression of instance. And if Cássio Nunes did this, I want to know which ballot boxes are open and we have to put a magnifying glass on those ballot boxes.”
Marçal dismissed claims of widespread chaos at bus stops. “I don’t think the transport blockade is fair. The election has to be clean, everyone has to have the right to vote. What I saw, actually, in Bahia was unions posting PT stickers and in São Paulo you don’t need a whole bus capacity. There weren’t that many people waiting for buses. The narrative the PT makes is to create a circus, of trying to arrest a mayor, to show that there is some stain on the electoral process. When they are losing, they always act like this.”
He pointed to on-the-ground checks contradicting the story of stranded voters. “If you go to my Instagram right now, Pablo Marçal 1, there’s a woman there in Salvador showing that there’s no one at the bus stop, nowhere. In other words, you have to be very careful with narrative, because this is the way of those who are defeated to build their defeat and show that they lost because of buses. Help me, you lose because of buses in two cities? Where are the people? If it were them, keep showing. There’s no one at the bus stop. This is a narrative for…”
Marçal said the episode was less about a formal challenge than about staining the process. “Not to contest, but to stain the electoral process. I hope that we put Brazil, everyone who likes data and analysis, looks very carefully at the sections that were not closed at 5 p.m. sharp. One thing is to have voters there. If everyone stops to think, the election now in most of Brazil was only for president. I myself had no one in line, nowhere that I had news, not even a line. So very few cases of delay. I believe in a narrative of people who lost the election and we are going to suppress that in the next 40 minutes.”
Asked about Flávio Bolsonaro, Marçal said he had not spoken to the candidate about the ruling but was ready to serve. “I’m not worried about a position, I’m at Flávio’s disposal.” On a possible Ministry of Prosperity, he credited the idea to Bolsonaro himself: “The idea of the Ministry of Prosperity is Flávio’s, because the Brazilian was made a victim to be an electoral corral. The PT did this very well since 2003, now we are going to free people so they can prosper.”
He also noted that in 2022 Justice Alexandre de Moraes had refused similar extensions. “In 2022, including, Moraes himself prohibited extending the hours.”
Marçal expected the usual response from a losing side. “Every bad loser never recognizes it. What we expect is that Lula’s last shot is not to recognize it.”
The decision, landing minutes after polls closed and before full partial results, has intensified claims of favoritism in a runoff already shadowed by the 2022 aftermath. With only a handful of cities cited as affected, Bolsonaro supporters are now pressing for a close look at every section that remained open past the legal deadline.-DTP