Contrary to Kenya’s election, Brazil’s presidential election, “is determined within 2 hours by an electoral body that manages 107 million voters who are all on biometrics.” These were statements by Makueni’s current governor, Mutula Kilonzo Junior, at a live interview on Citizen TV.
Background
Geographically, Brazil is the largest country and most populous in both South and Latin America. Some jurisdictions consider voting as the voter’s duty. This is to mean, in some countries, voting is mandatory. Brazil is one of such with very strict electoral laws. These laws also apply to external electors.
Every eligible voter is required to cast their votes during every general election. This law is applicable only to voters between 18 years old and younger than 70 years. However, any person who is older than 16 but younger than 18 years old, any person considered illiterate and those above 70 years old is exempted from this law. If a voter fails to justify their reasons for not voting, they are then compelled to pay a fine of about R$ 3.00, about 1.15 USD. This is subject to being multiplied tenfold by the judge.
The Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance shows one of the risks of compulsory voting is that it is not consistent with the freedom that comes with democracy. Compulsory voting is only an infringement of the voter’s freedom to vote in a democratic jurisdiction. This argument however goes two ways. Considering democracy is the rule of the people by the people, arguably so, making voting responsibility for every eligible voter is a defilement of that freedom.
This year, Brazil will be going into their general elections to elect a president and a legislature. Each voter can only cast one vote for either a political party, or an individual. Unlike most countries, its electoral system goes through a two-round voting system. This year, the first is scheduled for October 2, 2022 and the second, October 30, 2022.
Verification
Brazil’s most recent data shows that it has a total of 212.6 million people as of 2020. During the country’s last elections in 2018, there were 147.3 million registered voters, contrary to Governor Mutula’s statement. Four years later, data still disputes his claim. It shows the number of registered voters is 156.5 million. 118.2 million of these voters are captured on the biometrics, just about 75.52%, while the other 38.3 million are not. See screengrab below
Following media reports from the country’s previous elections, in this live coverage by Agenda-Free TV, the polls closed at 6:00 PM EDT on October 28, 2018. In another publication, by 7:50 PM EDT, the Associated Press reported that the presidential results were declared.
Another publication by Consumer News and Business Channel posted the same day at 6:09 PM EDT and updated on the same day at 7:32 PM EDT shows the results favoured Brazil’s current president Jair Bolsonaro.
Verdict
Claims that Sh107 million voters in Brazil are registered on biometrics are INACCURATE. From these reports, the claim that Brazil’s presidential election is determined within 2 hours is MOSTLY TRUE.
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