Voters travel Amazon rivers to reach floating polling station in Brazil election
Description: (4 Oct 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Catalão, Brazil - 04 October 2026
1. Combo of shots, top and bottom, aerial of the Amazon floating village of Catalao, on the banks of the Rio Negro
2. Residents arriving by boat to cast ballot
3. Woman arriving to cast vote
4. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Francisca Oliveira Pontes, 31-year-old, fisherwoman:
++PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOT 1-3 & 5++
“My goal is to have a better country, and to exercise my right, which is the right to vote. A lot of people say that one vote doesn't make a difference, but it really does. If it's to make a difference for something better, why not?”
5. Various of people arriving to vote by boat
6. Man voting
7. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Raimunda Ferreira Viana, 63-year-old, teacher and electoral coordinator from Catalao community:
++PARTLY COVERED BY SHOTS 8-10++
“Voting here in the Catalão (community) is a success in every way. There are always a lot of people, it is organized, thank God it is a place where since the beginning, in 2005, when I became the building coordinator, we have never had any problem.”
8. Electoral authority opening a box
9. Voting machine
10. Various of floating school used as voting station
STORYLINE:
Across the vast waterways of the Amazon, voting in Brazil’s presidential election requires navigating rivers rather than streets.
In Catalão, a floating community in the municipality of Iranduba just across from Manaus, residents from neighboring riverside towns arrive by boat to cast their ballots at the floating Nossa Senhora Aparecida municipal school.
For many river dwellers, participating in the democratic process involves long journeys across the Rio Negro.
Fisherwoman Francisca Oliveira Pontes, 31, traveled nearly an hour by motorboat from a nearby community to reach the floating polling station.
“My goal is to have a better country, and to exercise my right, which is the right to vote,” Pontes said while waiting in line to vote. “A lot of people say that one vote doesn't make a difference, but it really does. If it's to make a difference for something better, why not?”
The floating vote center serves as a crucial hub for scattered Amazonian settlements, drawing voters from communities across the region, including Cacau Pirera and Careiro da Várzea.
Brazil’s presidential election could reshape the future of the Amazon, with the winner leading the country that contains about 60% of the world’s largest rainforest — an ecosystem vital to the global climate.
Heading into the first round of voting on Sunday, the front-runners are Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth, nonconsecutive term.
The conservation of the Amazon has been largely absent from this year’s campaign.
Still, the two men represent starkly different visions of how the rainforest should be managed, and climate and conservation experts warn that a victory by Flávio Bolsonaro could reverse the deforestation-control policies Lula restored after taking office in 2023.
During Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, from 2019 to 2022, Amazon deforestation surged by about 60%, with over 45,000 square kilometers (17,400 square miles) cleared, according to official data. Under Lula, deforestation has fallen 45%, reaching its lowest level in more than a decade.
AP Video shot by Fernando Crispim
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RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Catalão, Brazil - 04 October 2026
1. Combo of shots, top and bottom, aerial of the Amazon floating village of Catalao, on the banks of the Rio Negro
2. Residents arriving by boat to cast ballot
3. Woman arriving to cast vote
4. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Francisca Oliveira Pontes, 31-year-old, fisherwoman:
++PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOT 1-3 & 5++
“My goal is to have a better country, and to exercise my right, which is the right to vote. A lot of people say that one vote doesn't make a difference, but it really does. If it's to make a difference for something better, why not?”
5. Various of people arriving to vote by boat
6. Man voting
7. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Raimunda Ferreira Viana, 63-year-old, teacher and electoral coordinator from Catalao community:
++PARTLY COVERED BY SHOTS 8-10++
“Voting here in the Catalão (community) is a success in every way. There are always a lot of people, it is organized, thank God it is a place where since the beginning, in 2005, when I became the building coordinator, we have never had any problem.”
8. Electoral authority opening a box
9. Voting machine
10. Various of floating school used as voting station
STORYLINE:
Across the vast waterways of the Amazon, voting in Brazil’s presidential election requires navigating rivers rather than streets.
In Catalão, a floating community in the municipality of Iranduba just across from Manaus, residents from neighboring riverside towns arrive by boat to cast their ballots at the floating Nossa Senhora Aparecida municipal school.
For many river dwellers, participating in the democratic process involves long journeys across the Rio Negro.
Fisherwoman Francisca Oliveira Pontes, 31, traveled nearly an hour by motorboat from a nearby community to reach the floating polling station.
“My goal is to have a better country, and to exercise my right, which is the right to vote,” Pontes said while waiting in line to vote. “A lot of people say that one vote doesn't make a difference, but it really does. If it's to make a difference for something better, why not?”
The floating vote center serves as a crucial hub for scattered Amazonian settlements, drawing voters from communities across the region, including Cacau Pirera and Careiro da Várzea.
Brazil’s presidential election could reshape the future of the Amazon, with the winner leading the country that contains about 60% of the world’s largest rainforest — an ecosystem vital to the global climate.
Heading into the first round of voting on Sunday, the front-runners are Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth, nonconsecutive term.
The conservation of the Amazon has been largely absent from this year’s campaign.
Still, the two men represent starkly different visions of how the rainforest should be managed, and climate and conservation experts warn that a victory by Flávio Bolsonaro could reverse the deforestation-control policies Lula restored after taking office in 2023.
During Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, from 2019 to 2022, Amazon deforestation surged by about 60%, with over 45,000 square kilometers (17,400 square miles) cleared, according to official data. Under Lula, deforestation has fallen 45%, reaching its lowest level in more than a decade.
AP Video shot by Fernando Crispim
===========================================================
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
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You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/28b18b60e9e14cb581ae80a3a862d6f2 Close description