Abstentions and blank and invalid votes total 39.1 million in the first round of the presidential elections

Abstentions and blank and invalid votes totaled 39.1 million in the first round of this Sunday's presidential election (4), equivalent to 24.63% of the 158.7 million voters eligible to vote. Data from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) considers those counted until 9:20 pm, with 99.18% of the sections counted.

Until that moment, 33,174,473 abstentions had been recorded, 2,286,039 blank votes and 3,639,045 invalid votes.

🔎 To reach 24.63%, abstentions and blank and invalid votes were added: 39,099,557. This total was divided by the national electorate eligible to vote, of 158,745,502 people.

In the presidential dispute, Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) and Lula (PT) are confirmed in the second round. Flávio had 55,825,882 votes, or 47.18% of valid votes, while Lula had 53,223,914, equivalent to 44.98%, at the same time.

Understand the difference between abstention, blank vote and invalid vote

The three situations have different meanings. Abstention corresponds to the voter's absence from voting. Blank and invalid votes are registered by those who attend the polls, but do not allocate a valid vote to any of the candidates for that position.

Abstention: occurs when a person eligible to vote does not attend the vote. In the 9:20 pm partial, the rate was 21.07% of the electorate in the sections already counted.

Blank vote: is registered when the voter presses the “blank” button and then “confirms” on the electronic ballot box. Until that time, it represented 1.84% of the votes registered for president.

Null vote: occurs when the voter enters a number that does not correspond to any candidate for the position and confirms it. In the presidential dispute, null votes represented 2.93% of the votes registered.

Blank and null votes do not go to whoever is in front

At the Sebastião Villaça State School, in Itapetininga (SP), 5,400 voters are expected. — Photo: Reproduction / TV TEM

Blank and invalid votes are not transferred to the candidate with the most votes or to any party. They are outside the valid votes, used to calculate the candidates' percentages and define the election result.

In the presidential election, victory in the first round requires more than half of the valid votes. Even if blanks and null votes exceed 50% of the votes registered, this does not, in itself, cause the election to be canceled.