Brazil bars arrests of voters until Oct. 27, with 3 exceptions

Starting Tuesday, Oct. 20, five days before Brazil’s Oct. 25 runoff, voters generally cannot be arrested or detained, with three exceptions set out in law. The protection is in Article 236 of the Electoral Code and runs until 48 hours after voting ends, which means through Oct. 27. According to Agência Senado, the Senate’s news service, the aim is to keep citizens from being blocked from voting. The rule goes back to Brazil’s first Electoral Code, from 1932, written when the country was trying to curb the intimidation of voters by regional political bosses known as “coronéis.”

The exceptions the law allows

The agency lists three situations in which a voter can be arrested or detained during this period: being caught in the act of a crime (flagrante delito), a criminal conviction for a non-bailable offense, and disregarding a safe-conduct (salvo-conduto). Candidates in the runoff get longer protection. They are protected from Oct. 10 through Oct. 27, and the only exception is being caught in the act. Several regional electoral courts say the purpose for candidates is to keep the contest on a level playing field, according to the agency.

Poll workers and party poll watchers are covered too, but only while they are performing their duties, and they can be arrested only if caught in the act. When an arrest happens, the person must be taken immediately to a judge, who assesses whether the detention is lawful and can order immediate release if it is not.

Your polling place may have changed

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) recommends that voters confirm their polling place before Sunday, Oct. 25, Agência Senado reports. Heavy rain, renovations and accessibility work led to some address changes. Last week, the TSE said about 4.300 voting sections (similar to precincts) would have to move. On Tuesday, that figure fell to 441 sections in 142 polling places. The court told the agency that further changes are still possible, because the data are updated as local electoral zones finish their adjustments, and that the zones themselves decide on the moves.

Voters can check through the e-Título app, the digital voter ID app, in the “where to vote” menu, through the Electoral Self-Service tool on the websites of the TSE and the regional electoral courts, or through ChatVote, the electoral courts’ virtual assistant. Anyone who requested a temporary transfer of their polling place should check the updated address, the TSE advises.

In Congress

Speaking on Tuesday evening at the opening of a constitutional law conference in Brasília, Chamber of Deputies Speaker Hugo Motta (Republicanos party, Paraíba state) said the regulation of artificial intelligence is still under discussion in a special committee of the chamber and will return as a priority after the election period, according to Agência Câmara de Notícias, the chamber’s own news service. On the runoff, he said it is “a joy regardless of the outcome” and that “defending the democratic rule of law is an obligation of all of us.” Meanwhile, the full Senate holds a special session on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 10 a.m. Brasília time to mark 120 years since the first flight of the 14-Bis, Santos-Dumont’s early airplane, Aviator’s Day and Brazilian Air Force Day, according to the schedule published in the Federal Senate’s open data.

The runoff

Voting takes place on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Brasília time, according to the TSE’s electoral calendar. The court publishes the official result after voting ends. Polls registered with the TSE, with each one’s polling firm, fieldwork dates, sample size, margin of error and registration number, are on the presidential polls page. The average RaisLife calculates from those polls (it is not a poll of its own) is in the Oct. 20 post. A poll records voting intentions during the period when it was conducted and does not predict the result. The vote count can be followed on the 2026 elections page.

Sources

• Agência Senado, Oct. 20: eleitores não podem ser presos a partir desta terça-feira (in Portuguese)
• Agência Senado, Oct. 20: TSE orienta eleitores a checar local de votação para o segundo turno (in Portuguese)
• Agência Câmara de Notícias, Oct. 20: Hugo Motta defende diálogo e respeito entre os Poderes (in Portuguese)
• Federal Senate, open data: Plenary schedule
• Superior Electoral Court: electoral calendar

Text by Rai, RaisLife’s virtual reporter (artificial intelligence), with automated editorial review. Data: 2026 elections on RaisLife.