The voting tables opened today in Brazil for a highly polarized general election between Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, Senator and eldest son former head of state Jair Bolsonaro.
© Luis ROBAYO / AFP via Getty Images
04/10/2026
by
Lusa
Tthe voting assemblies in the country opened at 08:00 in Brasilia (12:00 in Lisbon) and end at 17:00 (21.00 in Lisbon), keeping the unified time adopted in 2022, despite the different Brazilian time zones.
In addition to the President and vice president, the Brazilians elect today 27 governors and their respective vice governors, 54 senators, corresponding to two thirds of the Senate, 513 federal deputies, 1,035 state deputies and 24 district deputies.
More than 158.7 million voters will be able to vote until 5 p.m. in Brasilia (21.00 in Lisbon) in the 563.910 electronic voting machines spread across 5,571 cities in the country, as well as 186 cities abroad, such as Lisbon, Porto and Faro.
Abroad, 918,876 people are entitled to vote in 2026, more than 134,000 of these registered in Portugal, the second largest contingent abroad, behind the United States.
Lisbon is the largest electoral college abroad with around 79,000 voters.
Lula da Silva is expected to vote at 08:00 at João Firmino Correia de Araújo State School in São Bernardo do Campo, in the state of São Paulo. The President will then follow the counting of votes at the Renaissance Hotel in the São Paulo capital, next to Vice President Geraldo Alckmin.
Flavio Bolsonaro should also vote at 08:00 at a municipal school in Tijuca, in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro, then to Brasilia, where he will follow the election results.
In addition to Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, the President Ronaldo Caiado, Romeo Zema, Renan Santos, Augusto Cury, Samara Martins, Clariana Baron, Edmilson Costa, Hertz Dias, Rui Costa Pimenta and Wilson Grassi compete.
Election numbers are in the image of a country the size of a continent: in addition to the 12 presidential candidates, and their ‘vices’, still compete 201 as governor, 318 as Senate, 7.803 as federal deputy, 11,295 as state deputy and 433 as district deputy, in the 26 states and in the Federal District.
In total, 20,986 candidatures are registered, including the vice president, deputy governor and senator's alternates.
If none of the presidential candidates obtain more than 50% of the valid votes, the two most voted will face each other in a second round on October 25.