Brazil: 14 million voters in the Southeast region did not vote in the first round

In the first round of the 2022 elections, held on October 2, 14.6 million people in Brazil’s Southeast region failed to vote.

This number equals 22% of eligible voters in the country’s most populous region.

In São Paulo alone, 7.5 million people did not go to the polls (21.6% of those eligible).

In Minas Gerais, 3.6 million (22.3%). And in Rio de Janeiro, 2.9 million (22.7%). The rate in Espírito Santo was 20.8%.

The national average of abstention in 2022 was 20.95% – higher than the one registered four years ago (20.3%). This number has been growing since 2006.

President Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party – PL) finished ahead in 7 of the 10 states where most people stopped voting, while former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party – PT) won in 7 of the 10 with the highest attendance.

In the capitals of the Southeast, abstentions were even higher than those registered in the interior.

In São Paulo, 24.2% of eligible voters abstained from voting. In Belo Horizonte, 21.8%. And in Rio, 21.3%.

These three cities concentrated 39.9% of the valid votes in the first round.

With information from Poder360