Almost 2,000 candidates decide to run in another city after four years | Choice in numbers

Most of the exchanges took place in neighboring cities and in the same state. But there were also changes in the municipalities of other units of the federation. Virtually all were defeated in 2016.

The most frequent exchange was from Recife to Jaboatão dos Guararapes, in the metropolitan region of the capital of Pernambuco. Eight candidates have made this change since the last election.

Another seven left Salvador for neighboring Lauro de Freitas in the period. It was the second most frequent change.

In total, 238 are applying this year in a different status than 2016.

São Paulo had the highest number of exchanges. In total, 54 left state cities for those of another federation and 32 left other states for São Paulo.

The most frequent exchange was from São Paulo to Minas Gerais, with 22 cases, and the second the other way around, with 15 records.

The change of city is motivated by the search for a better performance of the candidate and the party, says Luciana Santana, PhD in Political Science (UFMG) and professor at the Federal University of Alagoas (Ufal).

“The strategy is for political survival of both the individual candidate and the party to maintain representation in the municipality. In other words, the calculation is electoral, ”says the political scientist.

“For candidates (a) who have a political projection outside the municipality or who already have some previous experience in elective or non-elective positions, this change has less political costs than for candidates new to politics.”

The figures confirm the analysis, since 96.7% of the candidates who changed cities were defeated in the last elections.

In total, 1,824 candidates changed cities. Of these, 1,764 were not elected in the last elections.

The majority, 1,189 candidates (65%), finished the last election as a substitute. In other words, it was the councilors of the unelected coalitions who got a place in the municipalities in 2016.

Another 494 were not elected mayors and vice mayors or were defeated councilors who were not part of the winning coalitions.

In addition to moving to another city, some of the candidates also changed positions between elections. There were 222 changes in total.

The most common was from councilor to mayor, with 74 registrations. The reverse exchange was the second most frequent, with 52 cases.

Luciana Santana believes that candidates who change cities follow a party strategy.

“There are strategies that can be of a personal or party nature. I tend to believe that, because they are candidates who have already disputed the election, it is a party strategy, “says the political scientist.

“This means that in these changes, a greater availability of resources can be negotiated for these candidates so that they effectively have a better chance of being elected.”