Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) prohibits reduction in public transportation services on election day.
Alexandre de Moraes said the measure aims to reduce abstention: "the more transportation, the more turnout; the more turnout, the more democracy."
(Reuters)- Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) on Tuesday prohibited state and municipal governments from reducing public transportation services next Sunday, the day of the second round of elections for president and governors in 12 states.
According to the court, anyone who disregards the decision, included in a resolution unanimously approved by the court's plenary session, will be subject to charges of an electoral crime, without prejudice to other penalties.
In the session where the resolution was approved, the president of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), Alexandre de Moraes, said that The measure aims to reduce abstention in the second round of the election..
"More transportation means higher turnout; higher turnout means more democracy," Moraes said, according to the court's website.
"We know that a large part of the abstention in elections occurs precisely because some people don't have money for transportation and because, in some localities, there isn't the necessary transportation," he added.
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who is ahead of reelection candidate Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in presidential polls, has insisted in his public speeches on the need for voters to go to the polls to vote.
Traditionally, voter abstention is higher among lower-income voters, precisely a segment of the electorate where Lula is well ahead of Bolsonaro, according to polls.
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