Brazil deploys 400,000 police, troops for poll

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil is deploying more than 400,000 security personnel, including 30,000 military, for Sunday's presidential and general elections, the country's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) said Saturday.

The TSE told broadcaster Globo it had authorized the deployment of troops in 254 municipalities in 11 of Brazil's 27 federal states, including Rio, scene of urban violence across the week which claimed at least five lives, and Amazonia.

During the last elections in 2010, the TSE authorized the deployment of troops in 256 municipalities in 12 states.

Following drug-related violence earlier in the week, Rio state governor Luiz Fernando Pezao decided to beef up security in Rio, where some 30,000 police have been on duty since Friday.

Rio state security secretary Jose Mariano Beltrame indicated criminal groups tend to step up their activities in the run-up to elections and several such groups have promised as much via social media.

In the slum area of Mare near to Rio's international airport 2,500 police and troops are already on duty. The army moved into Mare last March as part of a "pacification" program.

Security personnel will be monitoring Rio state's 5,400 polling stations to nip in the bud any irregularities such as attempted vote buying.

In the northern state of Amazonia, troops are on hand to boost security as well as voting logistics in 88 municipalities, many of which have a large indigenous population and where access to polling booths can be difficult.

The troops will oversee the distribution of electronic ballot boxes by air to remote areas.

In the southern state of Santa Catarina, scene of dozens of attacks in a week of violence which saw some 30 buses set ablaze and police stations attacked, elite troops arrived at dawn in state capital Florianopolis on the orders of Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo.

Globo's web portal G1 quoted police as saying the attacks took place on the orders of prisoners held at Sao Pedro de Alcantara jail on the outskirts of Florianopolis.

On Sunday, 142.8 million Brazilians are called upon to elect a president, 27 state governors, 513 congressmen and 1,069 regional lawmakers, as well as a third of the senate with first results expected around midnight.