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The center-right confirmed her status as a great winner in the second round of the municipal elections Sunday in Brazil, to the detriment of the candidates of the left and those supported by the far-right president, Jair bolsonaro.
The current mayor of Sao Paulo, the richest and most populated city in the country (12.5 million inhabitants), Bruno Covas, from the center-right PSDB, defeated Guilherme Boulos (40.6%) with 59.38% of the votes , of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL).
In the first round, on November 15, both the candidate supported by Bolsonaro and that of the Workers’ Party (PT) of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva were eliminated.
In Rio de Janeiro, the second district with 6.7 million inhabitants, Former Mayor Eduardo Paes (Democrats, center-right) obtained 64.1% of the votes, compared to 35.8% for the current mayor, former evangelical bishop Marcelo Crivella, an ally of Bolsonaro.
“Today we confirm that this city is the city of diversity. A city so wide that it accepts everyone, that embraces everyone ”, declared Paes after the result was known.
The elections were held six weeks late, due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has already claimed almost 173,000 deaths and plunged the country into a serious economic crisis, with record unemployment of more than 14 million people.
Bolsonaro, without a party for a year, supported 13 candidates, of which only two were elected. In the second round, apart from Crivella, his last hope was Wagner Sousa Gomes, known as Captain Wagner, defeated in Fortaleza (northeast) by José Sarto, from the center-left PDT.
The results deprive Bolsonaro of a solid base in those districts, but “that does not mean that in [las presidenciales de] 2022 there will not be a merger of Bolsonaro with the right-wing parties, ”says Flávia Biroli, political scientist at the University of Brasilia.
The left was another disappointment with the defeat in Porto Alegre (south) of Manuela D’Avila, of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCdoB), against the center-right Sebastiao Melo.
In Recife (northeast), a traditional bastion of the left, there was a duel between two cousins and political heirs of the historic leader Miguel Arraes (1916-2005): the socialist Joao Campos, who won with 56.2% of the votes, and Marilia Arraes, from Lula’s PT (43.73%).
The PT, for its part, failed to halt its decline and, for the first time since the democratization of Brazil in the 1980s, did not win in any of the 26 state capitals. He will only govern in about 180 mayoralties (of the 5,570), just under a third of the 600 he had in 2012.
Debora Thomé, a political scientist at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), drew attention to the fact that only one woman was elected in the capitals (Cinthia Ribeiro, re-elected in Palmas, capital of Tocantins, north).
“The profile that predominated in these elections was the white man (…) It is still very difficult for a woman to win in a majority election,” she stated.
Cuevas: “politics without hatred”
Mayors have a wide range of competencies that include health issues. Therefore, for many, the response to the pandemic was an important factor in casting their vote.
During the most critical phase of the virus’ spread, Bolsonaro downplayed its importance and lobbied against lockdown measures ordered by governors and mayors.
“It is possible to do politics without hatred, telling the truth,” declared Covas after the announcement of his victory. “Sao Paulo showed that denialism and obscurantism have only a few days left”added.
The mayors, who will take office on January 1, 2021 for a period of four years, will have to face gigantic challenges in terms of security, transportation or education with empty coffers due to the crisis, which is only expected to begin to subside when a crisis appears. vaccine.
Fake news
Bolsonaro, who voted in Rio, took the opportunity to reiterate his doubts about the reliability of the electronic voting system in force in Brazil. “We cannot continue voting without being sure that the vote was for the person [indicada]”He declared.
Disinformation campaigns on social networks this year focused more on the electoral process than on the candidates, contrary to what happened in the 2018 presidential election.
More than 70 of these ‘fake news’ were verified on this occasion by the media alliance of which the AFP is a part.
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