Brazil voting system different yet similar to India: Official

Posted on 23rd Feb 2015 by mohit kumar

New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS) Brazilian Supreme Electoral Court president Dias Toffoli Friday said that like India, they too use Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) but their vote has "binary value".

Interacting with people from various walks of life here, Toffoli said Brazil has 5,32,705 EVMs to elect leaders from 32 political parties.

Toffoli, while discussing how the Brazilian electoral system works, said there were some commonalities as well as differences between the Supreme Electoral Court and the Election Commission of India.

"All these 32 political parties are national parties," he said, adding that his country does not have regional parties as India has.

He said that in Brazil, a vote has a "binary value". A voter can cast his ballot for a party and a candidate. After voting, he or she is issued a receipt for both turns.

The visiting dignitary also met Indian poll officials, including Chief Election Commissioner H.S. Brahma Feb 18.

On election funding to political parties, he said all 32 parties in Brazil get their 95 percent funds from private companies, which he said was a cause for concern.

"It's a problem and we are trying to deal with it," he said.

"Vote buying is a crime in Brazil," he added.

Earlier, during his meeting with Brahma and others, both sides expressed their desire for cooperation in the field of election management.

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