The capitals have more than 24,000 candidates for councilors approved at conventions; number of registered must be a record | Choice in numbers

The number of candidates may still change, since the Electoral Justice must approve the registration of candidacies and there may be withdrawals. Despite this, it is already possible to say that this year there should be a registry of candidates for City Councils in the capitals.

The largest number of candidates so far had been registered in 2016, with 18,934 candidates for councilor in the 26 capitals. If all the 2020 candidates are confirmed, the increase will be 27% and these elections will have the highest number in the last 20 years. The information from previous municipal elections comes from the data repository of the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

The last day allowed for conventions, events in which the parties make the candidates official, was last Wednesday (16). Another poll from the G1 It shows that the increase must also be a record in the candidacies for city councils in capitals.

In half of the capitals, the increase in candidacies for councilor must exceed 40%. The greatest increase occurs in Maceió (AL), where the number of candidates for councilor went from 233 to 563 when comparing the 2016 and 2020 elections (+ 142%).

Then, Vitória (ES) and Rio Branco (AC) registered an increase of 68% and 67% in the number of applicants to the City Councils, respectively. In São Paulo, where there are 55 municipal seats, the number went from 1,315 to 1,927, which is equivalent to an increase of 47%.

At the moment, considering the 26 capitals, only Recife (PE) and Manaus (AM) have fewer candidates for councilors in these elections compared to 2016. In Recife, the number of candidates went from 965 to 901 (-7%). In Manaus, the reduction went from 1,411 to 1,370 (-3%).

Considering the number of vacancies in the Town Halls, the competition should be greater in Belo Horizonte (MG), which registers 39 candidates for each available seat (in total, there are 1,584 applications and 41 vacancies). Shortly after, Salvador (BA) appeared, with 36 candidates per vacancy, and Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, both with 35.

For Bruno Carazza, author of the book “Dinheiro, Eleições e Poder”, this increase is mainly due to the end of the coalitions for proportional elections (councilor, state deputy and federal deputy). This is the first election in which such a change takes effect, although the political reform that made the change was enacted in 2017. However, remember that coalitions are still allowed in majority elections (mayor, president, governor and senator).

“The parties are going to have to cast a lot of people to try to win as many votes as possible and try to get someone to reach the City Council. This ended up generating a pulverization of candidacies, and each party tends to have an incentive to launch many candidates because that way they are more likely to obtain the votes of the electoral quotient ”, says the professor from Ibmec and Fundação Dom Cabral.

The electoral quotient defines how many votes each party needs to obtain a seat in the legislature (except in the Senate, which is part of the majority election). To reach this number, the Electoral Tribunal calculates the total valid votes (excluding blank and null votes) and verifies the number of vacancies in dispute. If there are 100,000 votes and ten seats, for example, the electoral quotient is 10,000.

Carazza points out, however, that there was no reduction in the number of candidates launched by each party (currently 150% of the number of seats in each city council). For him, this allows the registration of many candidates, which should happen this year. “The candidate is just one person in the crowd. This creates a barrier for the candidate who is not a celebrity, neither religious, nor military, nor wealthy, nor close to the party leaders.

“The change facilitated the electoral process because the voter does not vote for a coalition, he only votes for a party. On the other hand, with many candidates, it is very difficult for the voter to filter and identify a good candidate. The ideal would have been to end the coalition and reduce the number of candidates the party could launch. This would force the party to have a selection process, a selection process, an internal debate, perhaps even an advance, ”he highlights.

Carazza also affirms that the parties must maintain this strategy in the 2022 elections, since the acronym also needs votes to meet the minimum requirements of the compliance clause. The performance clause was also approved in the 2017 electoral reform and restricts access to the Party Fund and free advertising time on radio and television. The requirements are stricter with each election until 2030 and aim to reduce the fragmentation of parties in Brazil, considered one of the largest in the world.

“In 2022, this is even stronger because it combines two effects of this reform: the end of coalitions [em eleições proporcionais] and the compliance clause. The parties must reach a minimum level of votes even higher than the one they reached in 2018. If it is going to grow now, it is expected that in 2022 it will grow even more ”.

* Fábio Vasconcellos, Gabriela Caesar, Ricardo Gallo, Thiago Reis, Geisy Negreiros (G1 AC), Heliana Gonçalves (G1 AL), John Pacheco (G1 AP), Matheus Castro (G1 AM), João Souza (G1 BA), Igor Cavalcante (G1 CE), Luiza Marcondes and Maíra Mendonça (G1 ES), Vitor Santana (G1 GO), Lucas Vieira (G1 MA), Kessilen Lopes (G1 MT), João Pedro Godoy (G1 MS), Thaís Leocádio (G1 Minas) , Caio Maia (G1 PA), Diogo Almeida (G1 PB), Ederson Hising, Lucas Ravel and Mariah Colombo (G1 PR), Luiza Falcão (G1 PE), Maria Romero (G1 PI), Raoni Silva (G1 Rio), Igor Jácome (G1 RN), Lilian Lima (G1 RS), Daniele Lira (G1 RO), Fabricio Araújo (G1 RR), Karollayne Rosa (G1 SC), Bárbara Muniz (G1 SP), Joelma Gonçalves (G1 SE) and Patrício Reis (G1 A).