It was one of the world's early adopters of high-tech electronic voting.

But Brazil will now revert to using paper votes because it cannot afford to run the electoral computer systems.

The Superior Electoral Court has had its funding cut by the equivalent of £75m - in the middle of a tender for computer systems for next year's elections.

The process was due to be finalised this month, but has been thwarted by the government cuts, and voters will now cast their ballots using paper instead.

The court says the move will cause "irreversible and irreparable damage" and says the public interest is at threat.

A statement read: "The biggest impact of the budget cuts is around the purchasing of electronic voting equipment, as bidding and essential contracting is already under way and to be concluded by end of December."

Brazil has had electronic voting since 1996, when it trialled systems in state elections.

In 2014 it was criticised after tests showed it was insecure against fraud.

State spending in Brazil is being squeezed - a planned trip to Japan by President Dilma Rousseff was called off as part of the spending freeze.

Electronic voting is used in Estonia and Switzerland, and there have been calls for a similar system to be introduced in the UK to boost voter turnout.