In a stunning last-minute power grab that has enraged Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin, Lula’s former personal attorney whom the communist president appointed to the Supreme Federal Court (STF), unilaterally extended voting nationwide by two hours on October 25 during the presidential runoff against Flavio Bolsonaro.
According to explosive reporting from Brazilian journalist Malu Gaspar of O Globo, every minister on the TSE was against the idea. The consensus inside the electoral court was clear: voting hours, fixed by law from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Brazil time, should not be extended.
Yet Zanin, acting on a request from Lula’s campaign, issued the order around 5:01 p.m., one minute after polls were supposed to close, trampling the specialized electoral body that is constitutionally responsible for running the election.
Breaking News: Is Brazil turning into a Banana Republic?
From a friend on the ground:
“Brazil Supreme Court Justice, Cristiano Zanin, President Lula’s former lawyer who defended him during the Petrobras corruption scandal and whom Lula himself appointed to the Supreme Court, ordered that voting across Brazil be extended by TWO HOURS!!!
Zanin is not even a member of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), whose president was appointed by Bolsonaro. The TSE normally handles election issues.
His decision forced election authorities to suspend the vote count. The real scandal however, lies in the fact that Zanin had no legal authority to intervene, yet he did so anyway to help his buddy Lula.
The order was subsequently restricted to polling stations that had not yet closed, most likely in less developed regions where Lula tends to receive more votes.
This is a massive scandal in Brazil and goes to show that the country is nothing more than a banana republic.”
Look at this ⬇️
What does this remind you of?
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) October 26, 2026
Zanin’s decision came after Lula’s campaign complained of public transport problems, initially focused on cities in Bahia and later expanded. Flavio Bolsonaro’s team had requested a more limited extension in certain states due to heavy rains and flooding, directed to the TSE.
TSE President Kassio Nunes Marques had signaled he would not intervene and was still seeking information; the court as a body preferred to stick to the statutory hours.
With the TSE remaining silent, the PT turned to the STF, and Zanin, known as “Lula’s justice” for defending him in the Lava Jato cases before being appointed, delivered.
Just two hours before polls were set to close, Lula was having a MELTDOWN on national television, amid concerns that his supporters were being prevented from reaching polling stations and casting their ballots.
🚨 HOLY SMOKES IT ALL MAKES SENSE. 2 hours before poll close, Lula was having a MELTDOWN and crying on national TV worrying that his voters were somehow blocked from the polling places
…so just a couple hours later, JUST IN TIME and RIGHT ON CUE, his former PERSONAL lawyer Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ordered voting to continue through 7PM, right after pro-Bolsonaro precincts permanently locked their electronic voting machines
Conveniently, that order benefited pro-Lula areas immensely, and he “won” by the end of the night, by a few points 😡
THIS RESULT MUST BE THROWN OUT!
There was CLEAR cheating and tampering through this Supreme Court “order.”
Oh, and just so we’re clear, Brazil’s Supreme Court has *NEVER* issued this kind of order before during a presidential election in the electronic voting age.
Brazil MUST BE FREED. 🇧🇷🇺🇸
“We are asking the Supreme Court so that it can extend the electoral process so that people who were prevented from voting due to the mayor’s mischief…show up to vote.”
Cheater.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 26, 2026
The original order applied nationwide, even though many polling stations were already closing their doors.
It was a stunning, last-minute intervention in one of the most consequential elections in Brazilian history.
The decision immediately generated confusion because electronic voting machines in numerous locations had already been shut down and election officials had begun closing their polling stations.
Zanin subsequently clarified that his extension applied only to polling locations where the electronic voting machines had not yet been closed.
The TSE officially confirmed that interpretation.
“Everyone at the TSE is very angry with Zanin, saying he could not have made this decision with half an hour of voting left,” one TSE minister told Gaspar’s team while monitoring the count at court headquarters.
“The impression is that Zanin has never seen an electronic ballot box live, that he does not know that after it emits the voting report, it is mechanically impossible to reopen the urna.”
Ministers described a climate of fury and apprehension, fearing that the loser, would challenge the results and force a “third round” in the courts. “Nobody knows what is going to happen. Everyone fears that whoever loses will question the result,” another minister said.
Conservative Flavio Bolsonaro called for Sunday’s presidential results to be annulled in Brazil.
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Flavio Bolsonaro: “What happened today was not something normal. In fact, it was something unacceptable. At 5:01 pm, Justice Zanin makes a decision extending the election hours by 2 hours. This has never happened before in the history of Brazil… A Supreme Court justice, for the first time in history—Lula’s former lawyer—issued a unilateral decree at the request of a former law partner of his, and changed the rules of the game in the middle of the game!… At 5:01 PM, Justice Zanin—who is not part of the Superior Electoral Court—trampling over the specialized electoral court, made a decision extending voting by two hours. This had never happened in the history of Brazil!”
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