Ivan Richard        Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – The Federal Electoral Court (“Tribunal Superior Eleitoral – TSE”) has released the latest updated numbers for the October elections this year for mayors, vice mayors and city council members (“vereadores”). A total of 138,492,811 people will be eligible to vote for 464,701 candidates in the country’s 5,568 municipalities.

In accordance with election legislation, cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants where there are more than two candidates for mayor can have run-off elections. Second round voting, where necessary, will take place on October 28 pitting the two candidates with the most votes against each other.

The state of São Paulo has the country’s biggest population with the result that it has 31,229,307 people eligible to vote this year. It is also the state with the most candidates: 2,012 for mayor, 2016 for vice mayor and 75,439 for vereador.

According to the election calendar, August 4 is the deadline for filing challenges to candidate registration. Candidates whose eligibility is challenged can still participate in the election. They run sub judice until a final court ruling. If the election court rules against them after they have been elected they lose their mandate and have to forfeit office.

By August 6, political parties, colligations and candidates must report on funds raised and present a balance sheet on estimated financial costs of their campaigns. The TSE will provide a website where this information can be posted.

On August 21, free publicly financed commercials will begin on radio and television and run until three days before the election, that is, October 4.

Finally, the election calendar sets October 12 as the date that final results of the October 7 election should be reported. However, since it began using its electronic voting system in 1996, it has been possible for Brazilians to get election results on the same night of the voting.

In municipalities where there will be runoff elections, publicly financed commercials on radio and television will begin on October 13 and run until October 26.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Quase 140 milhões de brasileiros vão às urnas nas eleições municipais de outubro