At 9pm Dutch time, polling stations in Brazil will close for the second and crucial round of the presidential elections. They walk between right-wing President Bolsonaro and left-wing ex-President Lula da Silva.

In the first ballot, Lula received 48 percent of the vote and Bolsonaro 43 percent. In recent polls, Lula was ahead by several percentage points.

Around 150 million Brazilians were allowed to vote. Public transport was now free in almost 400 cities to make voting as attractive as possible:

There are reports of police officers stopping buses carrying voters to stop them. It’s mostly poor Brazilians who use these buses, and they’re generally pro-Lula. The Brazilian police, on the other hand, employ many of Bolsonaro’s supporters. In the state of Minas Gerais, where it is all about which candidate gets the most votes, people still had to buy a ticket to take the subway to the polling station.

According to the Brazilian authority that oversees the conduct of the elections, everyone who wanted to vote eventually cast their votes. “The only problem was that some voters were late.” The polling stations will therefore no longer remain open.

Bolsonaro and Lula both convinced of the victory

Bolsonaro voted earlier this morning for a military complex in Rio de Janeiro. “I think we will win for the good of Brazil,” he said. Lula voted near São Paulo. He called today the most important day of his life: “I am convinced that the Brazilians will vote for a plan in which democracy wins.”

As voting computers are used, the final result will probably be known tonight (Dutch time).