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BRASÍLIA – President Jair Bolsonaro’s environment tries to make a lemonade out of the defeats imposed on his candidates in these municipal elections. The assessment is that the scenario served as an important thermometer to shape a campaign heading into the 2022 presidential race if the CEO carries out the plan to try to win reelection. Without fully entering these elections, the allies assess, Bolsonaro would have difficulty knowing the real size of his strength and weakness.
In addition, advisers to the president consider that if he had been left out of the municipal dispute, the captain would not have anyone to defend his banners and would be the target of attacks in the debates.
Check out: Most of the candidates supported by Bolsonaro are out of the second round
The president’s interlocutors now assess that the president should rethink his campaign strategy for 2022 since he will not have a solid electoral base in the municipalities. In 2018, Bolsonaro also did not have this type of support in the interiors, but he managed to strengthen himself with the speech that together they needed to expel the PT. Now, his allies believe that, with the PT weakened and voters rejecting hate speech, it is necessary to change tactics.
The assessment of the Planalto Palace is that the support of Bolsonaro managed to boost the candidacy of mayor Marcelo Crivella (Republicans) for re-election in Rio de Janeiro – he will run for the second round against Eduardo Paes (DEM) -, although it is not enough to help Celso Russomanno (Republicans) to advance the dispute. At Planalto Palace, the justification for removing Russomanno’s defeat from the president’s lap is to point to “flaws” in his campaign.
The president’s interlocutors point out that the Republican first tried to hide the president in the campaign pieces and that even after turning around and inserting him, he could not communicate with the Bolsonarista militancy, which saw him as a traitor. Another of the criticisms raised by Bolsonaro’s advisers was with the case chosen by the candidate, who used football language while his audience turned to conservative viewers who do not understand the sport. Russomanno became CR10, referring to the Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo and Pelé’s 10 jersey.
Analyze: The under-40 left makes history in São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Recife
Bolsonaro also felt defeat in Recife, where despite her support, delegate Patrícia (Pode) fell to fourth place in the dispute. There, the second round will be with the family and in left field with João Campos (PSB) and Marília Arraes (PT). In third place was former minister Mendonça Filho (DEM), who had a sign that he could receive the support of the president if he advanced to the final.
Already in Belo Horizonte, despite the defeat of Bruno Engler (PRTB) against Alexandre Kalil (PSD), reelected in the first round with 63.3% of valid votes, the interpretation was that Bolsonaro managed to leverage the name of the state deputy. Voting intention polls placed Engler behind and with a maximum of 4% voting intentions. However, it reached almost 10% of the valid votes, ranking second.
On social media, Bolsonaro tried to minimize his participation in the elections. He claimed that his “help” was reduced to four live broadcasts that totaled “three hours.” The president insisted on criticizing the PSDB for not having chosen Bruno Covas in the first round and signaling a defeat for the left. “Indeed, the left parties suffered a historic defeat in these elections, a clear sign that the conservative wave came in 2018 to stay,” he wrote.
Read More: “The new political discourse has lost strength,” says political scientist Jairo Nicolau.
On the other hand, the special adviser to the Presidency, Filipe Martins, wrote on Twitter that “the left was renewed, assimilated the lessons of 2018 and knew how to take advantage of the internet and the new political reality to its benefit.” According to Martins, the right wing could not organize itself and needed to make “due self-criticism.” Otherwise, according to him, mistakes “will take an even higher price in the future.”
Mourão sees the center win
Vice President Hamilton Mourão pointed to the “traditional parties of the center” as the “big winners” of the dispute.
– To date, I have not done any in-depth analysis, (but) the traditional center parties were the big winners. That’s all for now – he said, in conversation with journalists when he arrived at the Planalto Palace. – They are more traditional politicians, better known, those who were already elected in the first round, in the big cities, and those who are competing in the second round. This is a reality
Voting map: See how the voting was in Rio by electoral zone
Mourão, however, said that it is not possible to point to a defeat for Bolsonaro because he did not “go” to the elections and only supported “very little” for some candidates.
– Nothing can be charged in relation to President Bolsonaro because he did not address that election. He supported some candidates, very little, but he didn’t have … The president has no party. Without a party structure, it is difficult to participate in an election.
