00:08We continue on the topic of the important Brazilian elections that are taking place today in the final run.
00:14Let's welcome our special envoy Belendo Los Santos who is live in Rio de Janeiro for more details as the
00:20polls are nearing its ending roughly over an hour.
00:23Welcome Belendo from the south once more.
00:29Hello Luis once again we are here in Copacabana another voting school here in Rio de Janeiro once again going
00:36throughout this major city in this election.
00:39Let's recall second city in the country the third most the third electoral district with the most voters that is
00:47why its weight is so significant for this election.
00:50And we are just really moments away from the voting to close we are a little bit over an hour
00:58for the voting to close so we still have the last voters coming in about an hour until that moment.
01:06And the vote counting will begin at 5 p.m. local time.
01:11So that is what is happening right now.
01:13But please let me tell you a little bit about this election because of course it is a close presidential
01:18race and we'll all be looking at what is happening in that race between Lula do Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro.
01:26And if they get to those 50 percentage points polls are saying no none of them will do that and
01:33we will be heading into a runoff but we'll need to wait and see but also there's important elections taking
01:39place at a state level.
01:41And that includes for example the governor race that also needs to reach 50 percentage points.
01:48In Rio it's Eduardo Paes with the support of President Lula do Silva against Douglas Ruiz from the Liberal Party
01:56that is also being decided today with a chance that the government of the state will shift to this government
02:03led by Eduardo Paes that is not from the PD but has the support of President Lula do Silva.
02:09Elena as you were saying we are hopefully over an hour to conclude the voting process of this electoral election
02:17day.
02:17How would you have described the election as a whole that you have been there moving between different voting centers.
02:23How would you describe this electoral day for Brazilian democracy.
02:30Well at least where we have been you know that it's a common saying that Brazil is really its entire
02:37continent.
02:37That means there's a lot of Brazil's within the country because it is so big because it encompasses so many
02:44cultures and it's so big in terms of population as well.
02:48So we can speak of course for our experience here in the different regions of Rio de Janeiro where we
02:55have been visiting.
02:56There's a lot of participation a lot of willingness to participate as well.
03:00A little bit of tension just in the in the sense of living this election as an election that is
03:08really about two very opposite models that are fighting its chance to not only decide what is happening in Brazil
03:17but also in the region.
03:19And the campaigns have focused a lot on that but also in terms of how the region as a whole
03:26is paying attention to this how the interference of the United States is also playing a major role.
03:34And everyone is understanding this election and what voters in Brazil are doing here as a major shift in the
03:41continent both in the cases that Lula da Silva is reelected for a fourth term or in the case that
03:48the far right comes to power in alignment with so many other countries that have aligned completely with the United
03:56States in the last few years.
03:58And that sensation I think is in the air in the responsibility and in the seriousness with which many people
04:07are coming to vote understanding that this could be a turn of events for the entire continent and that is
04:15here we have also seen a lot of well just major expectation for what is happening after 5 p.m.
04:24The commonality here is that everyone will be gathering around a different several points for the apura south the recounting
04:33of votes it will be done swiftly so we will be looking at official results right after 5 p.m.
04:41And then we will know if those polls that we have been closely looking at were correct and in terms
04:49of their estimate of numbers or if we're looking at a different scene definitely we'll be looking to see if
04:55we're going to a runoff or not but also let's keep a close attention at what happens for Congress because
05:02two-thirds of the Senate is being elected right now and also the entire lower chamber and that has no
05:08runoff that is decided today.
05:10So definitely that is something that the entire population is also waiting to see the composition of the Congress that
05:17will set the coming term.
05:19Thank you Belen of course we're going to stay tuned in a coming segment in a coming news brief to
05:23have all the details coming live with you from Rio so thank you once more for your work.
