Seven int’l missions will monitor runoff vote in Brazil

Seven international election observation missions are monitoring the second round of the vote in Brazil, to take place next Sunday (Oct. 30). According to the country’s top electoral court, the teams have engagements in a number of cities, including Brasília and São Paulo, on Thursday.

The missions were assembled by the Organization of American States (OAS), the Mercosur Parliament (Parlasur), the Network of Electoral Administration and Judicial Agencies of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Roaje-CPLP), the Carter Center (US), the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations (Uniore), the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), and Electoral Transparency (Latin America).

On Thursday (Oct. 27), for example, Judge Alexandre de Moraes, head of the electoral court, should attend a meeting with the OAS delegation, and Uniore will meet at the Office of the Electoral Attorney-General and court technicians.

All the institutions monitoring the runoff were also active in the first round. In preliminary reports, they praised the Brazilian electoral system for October 2 and did not point out any irregularity.

“Regarding the electronic ballot box, mission members examine the software and the vote tally, so that they can issue a technical statement on the safety and integrity of Brazil’s voting system,” the electoral court stated.

An all-Brazilian mission

Also created this year was the first National Electoral Observation Mission, with Brazilian associations, organizations, and higher education institutions.

Accredited under this mission are the Brazilian Association of Jurists for Democracy (ABJD); the Association of Judges for Democracy (ADJ); the National Association of Public Defenders (Anadep); Vitória Law School (FDV); the Movement to Combat Electoral Corruption (MCCE); Electoral Transparency Brazil; the University of São Paulo (USP); and the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).