Brazil pauses presidential vote count after Supreme Court extends voting hours

Brazil's Supreme Court extended voting in the country's presidential election by two hours on Sunday, leading the electoral authority to pause a vote count that had already started publishing early-stage results.



The election pits leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro.



Polls were initially set to close at 5pm Brasilia time and will now close at 7pm after Supreme Justice Cristiano Zanin accepted a request by Lula's campaign to extend voting, pointing to public transportation issues in three cities in the state of Bahia.



Zanin's decision landed right around the 5pm cutoff, when the electoral court had already started publishing results that showed Lula leading Bolsonaro with 0.25 percent of ballot counted.



Lula had 57.66 percent of votes, compared with 42.34 percent for Bolsonaro, the early count showed.



After the Zanin ruling, the TSE said it would pause the vote count to allow for the extended voting window to close.