00:12Polls have closed across Brazil, marking the end of voting in the general elections that
00:17has drawn more than 158 million eligible voters.
00:22Brazilians have cast their ballots for president, governors, members of the Chamber of Deputies
00:28and the Senate.
00:29Now, we go to Rio de Janeiro with our special envoy, Belen de los Santos.
00:34Belen, what do you have for us at the free hour?
00:39Well, Ale, you were saying it, the news right now is that polling stations are closed and
00:45also that from just minutes ago, we have the first results that are already being charged
00:52in the website.
00:53Of course, we are talking about just like one percentage of all the votes that need
00:59to be counted in this enormous election.
01:02So, of course, those results are yet not representative of that area and of the general election after
01:09all.
01:10But it is important to know that those results are being loaded right now.
01:15We've been saying this throughout the day.
01:17This is a process that is going to be quick because it starts the minute that the polling
01:22stations close.
01:23So, a couple of things to keep in mind, Ale, while we look at this and we see what is
01:28happening right now, important to keep in mind is that not all areas are loading the data
01:37at the same time.
01:38Usually, there are some areas, some regions in the country that will load them before and
01:45some of them afterwards.
01:46So, what happens is that we will need to always wait and see for the tendencies of the results
01:54to get consolidated.
01:55So, not to get carried away by the results of the first half an hour, first hour.
02:02That is important because it is a historical tendency in Brazilian elections that the different
02:08shifts could come as the minutes and hours go by.
02:13That is one thing and also to keep in mind that we are paying, of course, close attention
02:18to the presidential race, also to know that the races for the governorships of each state
02:24also will go to a run-off if they do not go over the 50% of votes for each
02:32state.
02:32So, presidents and governors are going to a run-off, but the Congress, Ale, is decided
02:37tonight.
02:38So, the Senate representations from each state and the federal district as well, they are
02:46all deciding two seats each for two-thirds of the chamber that is renewed right now and
02:53also all the representations for the lower chambers.
02:56So, a major swift in the Congress that is decided tonight.
03:00There is no run-off there, so what we will definitely know is the composition of the Congress
03:06for the next term.
03:08Well, also, you are present in Rio de Janeiro, which is one of the main strongholds of the
03:14Bolsonaro family.
03:15What have you seen regarding the voters' attitude, the voters' intentions regarding the strengths
03:24of Bolsonaroism during this election day?
03:30Well, it's a very important question and also one that needs further analysis and will probably
03:38get better answers when we get a good read of the results across the state and not just
03:46in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
03:48Because Bolsonaroism has always been a stronghold here in Rio de Janeiro, but also across the
03:55state.
03:55So, just to keep in mind, you are correct.
03:58Many point to Rio de Janeiro, of course, as the origin of most of Bolsonaroism.
04:03Right now, Flavio Bolsonaro, up to this point, held the seat as a senator of the state.
04:09So, there is an important support coming from the state, as is from the region of the Southeast
04:15and South that tend to be the regions that mostly vote that way.
04:22But also to keep in mind that Rio de Janeiro has been increasingly disputed.
04:27So, if we compare the results from the 2018 election to the 2022 election, while Rio de
04:33Janeiro continued to vote majoritarily in favor of Bolsonaroism, the difference between one
04:39and the other was less.
04:41And that is even more so in the city of Rio de Janeiro itself.
04:45So, for example, in the neighborhoods that we've been going around and touring, there's
04:49been, first of all, a lot of participation.
04:52And, of course, representatives of both parties, we've talked to them a lot, but a lot of presence
05:00from Lula voters as well.
05:02You know that voters are coming here with their stickers and their t-shirts and their caps,
05:08just announcing who they're going to vote for in many cases.
05:12That is allowed by electoral law in Brazil as long as it's done in silence.
05:17So, we have been seeing a lot of participation.
05:19We also saw an important demonstration on Friday when Lula closed his campaign here in Rio as
05:27well.
05:28So, of course, it's a stronghold for Bolsonaroism.
05:31It's the Northeast that provides the largest amount of votes for Lula.
05:35But it is an open question to see how much of those votes Lula is going to be able to
05:41dispute.
05:42That was going to be key.
05:44Thank you very much, Bell, for being at the forefront in this very decisive day for Brazilians
05:49and also for Latin America as a whole.
05:52So, we are going to keep in contact with you in the upcoming hours.
05:54Thank you, miss bj.
