This article is part of a series on the 2026 Brazilian elections, focusing on the perspectives of Greater Rio’s favelas.
In the first round of Brazil’s 2026 elections, Rio de Janeiro’s Regional Electoral Court (TRE-RJ) ordered changes to 277 polling stations, 72 of which were justified on public security grounds, aiming to “impede” voting from taking place in areas dominated by criminal groups and militias or classified as high-risk—though this is virtually impossible in present-day Rio de Janeiro.
The most affected areas include Complexo da Maré, the neighborhoods of Ramos, Olaria and Penha, where many residents of the Complexo do Alemão and Complexo da Penha favelas, in the city’s North Zone, vote, as well as Rocinha, in the South Zone, and City of God, in the Southwest Zone. Historically, these are among the favelas that have been most vocal during election season, defended democracy and helped secure victories for President Lula in both the 2022 and 2026 elections.
Polling Locations Moved Out of Favelas and Endless Lines
For those with accessibility issues, such as older people and those with disabilities, the changes to polling locations were even more disruptive. This was the case for Vitor Santiago, a wheelchair user and resident of Vila do Pinheiro, in Maré:
“I used to vote at the Josué Castro School, in Vila do João [neighborhood adjacent to Vila do Pinheiro], and then they changed [my polling location]. I found out [about the change] about three days ago. From my house in Vila do Pinheiro to the school, it’s really close. It’s always complicated with a wheelchair because of speed bumps, cars, motorcycles, people… But it was relatively easy. Now that [my polling location] moved to Bonsucesso, it’s become a bit more complicated because I need to book a ride through an app. [I have to] collapse my wheelchair, open it back up. Logistically, it’s much more complicated.”
Many of the queues were also caused by voters waiting at the wrong polling locations. Due to a lack of communication about the changes, some voters only found out on the spot when it was time to vote, that they had to travel to another neighborhood to exercise their democratic right. As a result, many who had already waited at their former polling locations had to face another line elsewhere. This led many to give up on voting.
Despite the information being published on the Regional Electoral Court’s (TRE-RJ) website, the changes were not communicated effectively, causing problems for voters. The Maré Vive social media account published a list of polling locations to make the information more accessible, but this still failed to prevent the disruption.
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In the Maré favela, which covers the 161st and 162nd electoral zones, residents waited in voting lines for up to four hours, according to data from Redes da Maré, an internationally recognized community-based organization serving Maré’s 16 sub-neighborhoods. A post on the organization’s social media accounts showed the extent of the wait and chaos at different voting locations.
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In Brazil’s largest favela, Rocinha, which also has a history of supporting President Lula, voters at CIEP 303 Ayrton Senna, located in the 211th Electoral Zone, experienced the same situation. At various points throughout Election Day, voting queues reached 1.5 kilometers (nearly a mile), keeping voters in the favela waiting for hours. Also, the breakdown of a bus and a car in Rocinha on the same day worsened the situation, causing a major traffic jam until 2pm. Although the incident was not directly related to the elections, it highlights the importance of improving accessibility and transportation for residents of the city’s favelas.
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In the Ramos neighborhood, residents voting at the Olga Benário Prestes Public High School waited for over an hour.
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Voters Give Up Due to Exhaustion: Manufactured Abstention in Favelas
Election Day was sunny, contributing to the sense that voting was an endurance test and leading many to drop out. According to data from the state’s electoral court itself, the voter abstention rate in the favelas of Maré and Rocinha surpassed the national average, reaching 28% and 27%, respectively. In contrast, the voter abstention rate across Brazil was just over 21%.
The data reinforce how the change negatively impacted this year’s elections: 27 of every 100 eligible voters in Rocinha did not vote, just over a quarter of the community. Maré ranked first in Brazil for low voter turnout. Research reveals that changing polling locations was cited as the main reason for voter abstention.
Historically, among favelas, Maré, Rocinha, Penha and nearly Ramos have been among President Lula’s electoral strongholds. In 2022, for example, Rocinha was the area that gave him the highest percentage of votes, at 78%.
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Moreover, these areas have a minimum combined population of 374,328 residents—Maré (125,000), Rocinha (72,021), City of God (36,515), Penha (100,000) and Ramos (40,792)—a considerable number of people with the potential to determine the course of the next four years.
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For Gizele Martins, a journalist from Maré, this change is no mere coincidence:
“They changed our polling locations at the last minute. Imagine wheelchair users and elderly people no longer voting in Maré and having to go vote in other neighborhoods? When you got to the [other] neighborhood, you still had to face two, three or four-hour lines. Everyone was very stressed out, confused and tired. This wasn’t for nothing. They made huge favelas like ours change their polling locations. Do you think people are going [far away] to Bonsucesso, Ramos, Olaria to vote? Some went and still spent hours in line. And many people were stranded outside [because they couldn’t make it on time or gave up]. At 5pm, the gates were shut. That was the reality [of the 2026 elections for favela residents].”
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The combination of challenges faced by favela voters during the election’s first round also had a significant impact on the results and reinforced the importance of accessibility for exercising democratic rights in favelas. In a statement, Redes da Maré questioned the motivation behind the decision:
“In ten years of monitoring, the De Olho na Maré project has never recorded any armed clashes on election days. The relocated polling locations operate in municipal schools. If these buildings welcome children daily, why would they be unsuitable for adults to vote for a few hours? Without transparent criteria, the decision [to change polling locations] reinforces the stigma of the favela as a dangerous place and disregards community organizing. The quality of democracy is also measured by the capacity of working-class communities to participate in decisions about their present and future.”
Before voting in the second round of the 2026 elections on October 25, 2026, check your electoral zone and voting section on the TRE portal.
About the author: Amanda Baroni Lopes is a journalism student at Unicarioca and was part of the first Journalism Laboratory organized by Maré’s community newspaper Maré de Notícias. She is the author of the Anti-Harassment Guide on Breaking, a handbook that explains what is and isn’t harassment to the Hip Hop audience and provides guidance on what to do in these situations. Lopes is from Morro do Timbau and currently lives in Vila do João, both favelas within the larger Maré favela complex.