Going from Boulos to the 2nd round in São Paulo signals advancement of the young left throughout the country

Manuela D’Ávila withdrew her candidacy for the presidency in 2018 to run for vice president in Fernando Haddad (PT), a couple that obtained 47 million votes in the second round, losing to the current president, Jair Bolsonaro (then in the PSL and currently party), supported by 57.8 million voters.

This time, the PT agreed not to have a candidate in Porto Alegre, naming Miguel Rossetto as D’Avila’s runner-up. He was once deputy governor of Rio Grande do Sul and held ministerial positions in the governments of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff.

Political scientist Talita Tanscheit, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, points out that both Boulos and D’Avila chose experienced names as candidates for deputy mayor, which may have contributed to the good performance of the campaigns. Boulos’s running mate is the federal deputy Luiza Erundina (PSOL), who was mayor of São Paulo (1989 to 1992) for the PT.

“They are two new candidates, but they are not an adventure, they show the voter that they have baggage,” he analyzes.

“It seems to me that Manuela could not have this performance without the PT deputy, with all the recall (memory in the memory of the voters) and the experience that the PT has in the city,” he also said, recalling that Porto Alegre was governed by members of the PT from 1989 to 2005.

In Boulos’s case, the UFRJ professor believes that his candidacy is also leveraged by his history of activism in popular movements.

Boulos is the main leader of the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST), which organizes camps on vacant urban land and buildings to reclaim housing for poor families.

From this work he was invited to join the PSOL and run for the presidency in 2018, when he stood out as a speaker and in debates with other candidates.

“Boulos is much more of the left than of PSOL. Perhaps it is the greatest innovation of the left because the great challenge of this field after the PT leaves power is to reconnect with grassroots organizations, popular movements,” says Tanscheit, who currently studies the left in Latin America in his doctoral thesis.

His analysis is in line with the research of the political scientist Esther Solano, a professor at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp). In interviews with former PT voters, Solano has identified a feeling of “abandonment” in relation to the party.

“The lack of renewal of the leadership and the bureaucratic leadership of the party is a criticism that we hear a lot, as well as the departure of the PT from the territories, from the most daily contact with the population,” said Solano, in a recent interview with BBC News. Brazil.

In Recife, the second round will be disputed by two cousins, both under 40 years old: Marília Arraes (PT) and João Campos (PSB), who obtained 27% and 29% of the votes, respectively.

For Tanscheit, the leadership of both does not mean so much a renewal within the left, because both are projected as heirs to the legacy of traditional politicians.

João Campos is the son of Eduardo Campos, a former Pernambuco governor who died in a plane crash while running for president in 2014.

Marília Arraes, meanwhile, is the granddaughter of another former governor of the state, also deceased, Miguel Arraes, and in the final stretch of the campaign she cited Lula’s support, taking advantage of the popularity that the former president maintains in Pernambuco.

Although the PSB carries the term “socialism”, the professor does not consider that the party is clearly located in this field, recalling that the acronym supported Aécio Neves (PSDB) in 2014, in the second round of the presidential elections against Dilma Rousseff ( PT).

For her, it is Marília Arraes who emerges as the leader of the left in Pernambuco. “Marília’s performance was solid, considering that João Campos has a municipal and state structure (since the PSB currently governs Recife and Pernambuco),” says Tanscheit.

Political scientist Rafael Cortez, partner at Tendencies Consultoria, points out that new left-wing leaderships are emerging within traditional parties and may play a relevant role in building alliances within a field that has become fragmented in electoral disputes.

“It is interesting that the left makes a slow renovation, but within the traditional parties. The center-right has more of this discourse outside of politics, of challenging the political process,” he says.

These candidates who are going to run for the second round in the big capitals are the names of a new generation, who still have a long political career ahead of them and, without a doubt, will be important names in the negotiation of the presidential elections of 2022 and in the leadership of the left field. more in the medium and long term ”, he added.

In his assessment, although Boulos is not elected in São Paulo, his performance in the first round already places him as a relevant leader on the left.

“While Manuela made an alliance with the PT in Porto Alegre, Boulos was looking for competition from the left, in the cradle of the PT. It is possible that Boulos has the status of the main name of the left in São Paulo, although he cannot win in the second round “. , believe.

“In Recife, the arrival of Marília Arraes to the second round is also a relevant fact, because part of the match (PT) did not want her to compete. But she, like Boulos and Manuella, arrives with conditions to dispute the victory,” he said . still Cortez.

The left also has second-round chances in Vitória and Belém, where they compete with more experienced names.

In the capital of Pará, Edmilson Rodrigues (PSOL), who was mayor of the city for the PT between 1997 and 2004, obtained 34% of the votes and will compete against Delegate Eguchi (Patriota), who won 23%.

In the capital of Espírito Santo, the dispute will be between the delegate Pazolini (Republicans) who had 30%, and João Coser (PT), who obtained 21% of the votes.

Have you seen our new videos on Youtube? Subscribe to our channel!