Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court on Friday rejected a petition to extend voting hours for the country’s general election next month to accommodate Jewish voters unable to vote during Simchat Torah.
The request was filed four months ago by São Paulo attorney and state legislature candidate Monica Rosenberg, who had asked to extend voting hours until 8 p.m. at polling stations near Jewish communities, or to designate alternative accommodations.
The court ruled that voting hours are fixed by law and cannot be modified administratively without legislative action, citing technical and logistical hurdles on such short notice.
At the same time, voters unable to cast a ballot due to religious obligations can submit an individual justification after the election for review by an electoral judge.
The petition garnered more than 7,000 signatures, half of them from non-Jews.
Rosenberg said on Sunday that the decision was not a defeat because it sets a precedent for the future.
About 120,000 Jews live in Brazil, home to the second-largest Jewish community in South America after Argentina. The vast majority are non-observant.
The Oct. 4 election is expected to be a cliffhanger, with the latest polls showing leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro neck and neck, and likely to face a run-off three weeks later.
