The Electoral Court will carry out research to discover the causes of abstentions and try to reduce non-attendance in the next elections, in 2026, said this evening the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), minister Cármen Lúcia. Absences rose from 21.68% in the first round to 29.26% in the second.
“There is an increase in abstention in the second round. We had climate cases, other problems. Let’s check it out and see what we can improve. We will have to investigate in each location and work with the data”, stated Cármen Lúcia at a press conference to take stock of the second round of this year’s municipal elections.
According to the minister, the TSE will carry out a survey with the Regional Electoral Courts to identify the main obstacles to voter turnout in each location. She promised to present a report before the elected candidates graduate in December.
Traditionally, abstention increases between the first and second rounds, mainly because of voters dissatisfied with both candidates. The 2024 elections recorded the second highest volume of absences in history, second only to 2020, at the height of the covid-19 pandemic, when 23.2% failed to vote in the first round and 29.5% in the second round.
The minister warned that the TSE will need to deal locally with the variables that influence abstention. “There was a municipality where there was 16% abstention and there was a municipality with 30%”, he explained.
In Amazonas, affected by low rivers that impact transport, abstention, reported Cármen Lúcia, was lower than the national average. The only city to have a second round in the state, the capital Manaus recorded 23.61% abstentions in the second round, compared to 19.94% in the first round this year and 22.23% in the second round of 2020.
“In Amazonas, where we were concerned about the drought, we had the lowest abstention rate than we had found. [na média nacional]. That message worked there [pela Justiça Eleitoral] perhaps because our concern was greater”, he declared.
According to Cármen Lúcia, the storm that hit this morning in Porto Velho increased abstention, especially among elderly voters who were not obliged to vote. The capital of Rondônia recorded 30.63% abstentions, compared to 19.37% in the first round of this year. The number, however, fell compared to the second round of 2020, when absences reached 34.18%.
Statistics
The TSE provided more statistics from this year’s elections. The first place with a defined result was Belém, with the proclamation of the candidate mathematically elected at 5:30 p.m..
Regarding replaced ballot boxes, there were 171 in both rounds, out of a total of 97,392. The percentage reaches 0.12% in the second round and 0.63% in the first round. Tocantins did not have any ballot boxes replaced, and no section had manual voting in both rounds.
In relation to justifications through the e-Título application, the second round recorded 740,388 justifications by georeferencing (voters outside the voting municipality) and 83,363 justifications from voters abroad.
The minister stated that democracy is the space in which everyone can and should live together civilly. She highlighted that the TSE will continue to work to ensure the tranquility and fairness of the electoral process. “Tomorrow we will start work again because the work is incessant and the elections continue to be calm”, he said.
