Justice Cristiano Zanin of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), who recently made headlines with a ruling extending voting hours during the presidential runoff, previously served as personal attorney to socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during his corruption trial, in which Lula was convicted.
On Sunday, President Lula secured a fourth four-year term, narrowly defeating conservative Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. This victory was particularly notable as it marks the first occasion in nearly forty years where a candidate who lost in the first round ultimately triumphed in the runoff. Lula initially lost to Bolsonaro in the first round on October 4. Yet, Bolsonaro fell short of the required 50 percent of votes to win outright at that stage.
Sunday’s election was overshadowed by Zanin’s extraordinary decision to extend voting by two hours, allowing some polling places to remain open until 7:00 p.m., instead of the regular 5:00 p.m. cut-off set by electoral law.
Brazil’s main electoral authority, the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), acknowledged the ruling and adjusted the voting hours while also pushing back the vote tallying until after 7:00 p.m. However, it was noted that Zanin specified that only polling stations that had not yet closed by the time of the ruling could remain open for the extra hours.
The request to extend voting hours originated from Lula’s campaign, citing a bus shortage that affected transportation and hindered voters’ ability to reach their polling locations. This issue prominently impacted northeastern Brazil, a stronghold for Lula and his Workers’ Party (PT). A document of Zanin’s ruling revealed that the STF was made aware of the request shortly before 5:00 p.m., just minutes before the usual closing time of polling stations.
Critics, as cited by Breitbart News, claim that Zanin’s ruling has tainted the integrity of the runoff election. The contention has been exacerbated by Zanin’s previous role as Lula’s defense attorney during the major Operation Car Wash corruption investigation, which led to Lula’s conviction.
As part of the Operation Car Wash inquiry, Lula was indicted, found guilty, and sentenced to approximately 20 years for misusing public funds during his tenure from 2003 to 2010. Yet, in a highly contentious move, the STF overturned his conviction on procedural grounds, enabling Lula’s release from prison without new evidence that would absolve him of the original charges.
This ruling allowed Lula to reenter the presidential race in 2022, where he narrowly defeated then-incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence on questionable “crimes against democracy” accusations.
Lula commenced his third term on January 1, 2023. Later, in June 2023, he nominated Zanin to the STF, filling a vacancy left by the retirement of former Justice Ricardo Lewandowski. Zanin was consequently sworn in as an STF Justice in August 2023.
Lewandowski went on to serve as Lula’s Justice Minister between February 2024 and January 2026, succeeding another Lula appointee, Flávio Dino, who identified as a communist. Both Zanin and Dino participated in voting to convict Bolsonaro of “crimes against democracy” in 2025.
With Lula’s reelection, he will initiate his fourth presidential term on January 5, 2027. Reports indicate that during the ensuing four years, Lula could potentially appoint up to four new members to the Supreme Court before his term concludes in January 2031.
One of these appointments would fill a long-standing vacancy created after Justice Luís Roberto Barroso’s retirement in October 2025. Lula previously nominated Attorney General Jorge Messias for this position, but his nomination was rejected by the Senate in April, marking a historical first for Supreme Court nominations in Brazil.
The other anticipated appointments are in response to the looming retirements of Justices Luis Fux, Cármen Lúcia, and Gilmar Mendes, all approaching the age limit for service on the court. Next year, a predominantly conservative Senate and Lower House will take their positions, complicating Lula’s chances for securing the approval of his judicial nominees.
Concerns regarding Justice Zanin’s ruling surfaced within the TSE. The TSE president commented that the decision introduced challenges for the electoral process, although he refrained from overtly criticizing it, stating, “It wasn’t a conventional decision. Everything was unusual.”
The president clarified that the electoral authority received the extension request around 3:30 p.m. and quickly sought advice from the Regional Electoral Court of Bahia regarding the areas affected. He pointed out that there was no existing regulation to justify the extension of voting hours, as such an event had never occurred in the tribunal’s history.
Moreover, Nunes Marques affirmed that Zanin’s extension was issued after the closing time of 5:00 p.m., necessitating adjustments to vote-counting protocols and security for poll workers across the country. By this time, many polling places had already closed, making it impossible to reopen them due to the electronic voting machines’ protocols.
“In just a few hours, it would have been practically impossible to determine whether there would be any technological side effects from the judicial decision that might affect the vote tally,” Nunes Marques explained.
Despite these complications arising from the ruling, he assured that the vote counting went ahead without undermining the electoral process.
“I must reiterate: there were no changes resulting from the court’s decision. We have full confidence in the entire electoral process,” he added.
