▲ Eduardo Paes easily won yesterday’s elections, and became religious in the mayor’s office of Rio de Janeiro.Photo Afp
Eric Nepomuceno
Special for La Jornada
La Jornada Newspaper
Monday, October 7, 2024, p. 30
Rio de Janeiro., As has happened since 1985, when Brazil returned to democracy after 21 years of dictatorship, municipal elections were held yesterday throughout the country. It was the first round in the cities where, with the exception of Río de Janiero, no candidate was elected, so there will be a new round on the 27th.
As occurs in municipal electoral disputes at any latitude on the planet, there are tensions, but in general they are restricted to the locality in which not only mayors but also councilors are elected.
But sometimes – and it is worth remembering that this is not something exclusive to Brazil – these disputes are reflections of what happens at the national level and can have consequences far beyond municipal limits. And that happens in Brazil once again.
The country’s electoral system allows the final result to be known quickly. For this reason, at the beginning of last night, there was already a clear and consistent vision of the scenario.
The campaign leading up to these elections, in which 155 million citizens were called, are considered the prelude to the 2026 presidential elections, and were marked by misinformation, where the social network X has been off the air since August 31, accused of spreading false information.
We cannot allow the people to vote uninformedsaid President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after voting in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the suburbs of Sao Paulo.
The long-awaited parallel dispute between the current president and his predecessor, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, was little seen.
It appeared clearly and palpably, by the way, in the two most important cities of the country, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
In Rio, Mayor Eduardo Paes, backed by Lula, won his fourth term in office by easily defeating his main adversary, Alexandre Ramagem, who had the support of Bolsonaro.
But what was seen in the vast majority of the capitals of the Brazilian states were candidates who, despite defending loudly right-wing flags, did not try to use Bolsonaro as a banner or shield. Now, in an eventual second round, that may change.
The same goes for Lula. With the exception of the northeastern states, he only appeared forcefully, and even then in the final stage of the dispute, in Rio de Janeiro.
In Sao Paulo, the largest megalopolis in Latin America, with 12 million inhabitants, the outgoing mayor, Ricardo Nunes, a self-declared disciple of Bolsonaro, who won 29.4 percent of the vote, goes to the second round against the leftist Guiherme Boulos, who won 29. percent, supported by Lula.
A surprise, in any case, managed to impose itself explosively on the Brazilian electoral political scene: Pablo Marçal, whom no one had ever heard of.
He narrowly missed the second round to compete for the position of mayor of Sao Paulo, the largest, richest and most important Brazilian city.
Presenting himself in an amazing way, defending positions of a right even more radical than those of the current mayor, Ricardo Nunes, he almost made it to the second round. He ended up giving space to Boulos. It is assumed that he will now defend Nunes, the clear favorite to remain in the position for four more years.
Marçal, the exotic character who showed up to vote when there were only a few minutes left before the polls closed, left his mark. On time, he showed up to vote barefoot and wearing shorts.
Those most irritated with such a position say that it was what was missing for the Brazilian political scene to make clear how far it had collapsed. Others say that, at this point, nothing should surprise anyone.