The electoral colleges opened their doors this Sunday for the municipal elections in Brazil, during which the mayors and councilors of 5,569 cities will be elected, in a country still polarized between the president progressive Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and former president Jair Bolsonaro, far-right. Nearly 156 million Brazilians are called to the polls for elections which will also serve as a gauge of Lula’s popularity. facing the 2026 presidential elections.
Lula da Silva voted in the suburbs of Sao Paulo and asked Brazilians to be well informed about the biography and career of their candidates. “People will choose and if they have good information, they will always choose for the best. We cannot allow citizens to vote without being informed“, said the president.
For his part, Bolsonaro voted with the “hope” that his candidate for mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Alexandre Ramagem, would reach the second round, scheduled for the 27th, and took the opportunity to criticize Lula. In addition, the far-right leader disfigured the current municipal councilor Eduardo Paes, a big favorite in the polls, because he was the candidate of the Workers’ Party (PT), which Lula has led since its foundation.
Voting centers opened at 8:00 a.m. local time in Brasilia (11:00 GMT) and will operate until 5:00 p.m. (20:00 GMT), although voters queuing at that time will be able to exercise their right to vote. .right to vote.
The results will be known this Sunday thanks to the electronic voting system that Brazil, the largest democracy in Latin America, has used since 1996. In the 103 municipalities with more than 200,000 voters, there will be a second round on October 27, if there is none. of candidates The mayor has more than 50% of support.
In Sao Paulo, the latest survey, published Saturday by the Datafolha Institute, anticipates a technical tie between Lula’s deputy and the candidate, Guilherme Boulos; the current mayor Ricardo Nunes, defended by Bolsonaro; and digital influencer and businessman Pablo Marçal.
Lula, against disinformation
In his statement, the Brazilian Head of State defended democracy, after the controversial 2022 electoral process, which is being investigated for an alleged coup plot against him, because as long as it is in force , “the people will have the right to choose the better or the worse”.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attends a rally with Sao Paulo mayoral candidate Guilherme Boulos.
Reuters
In this sense, he hopes that the municipal elections will serve so that “the Brazilian people have the possibility to choose between the best“It is important to know people’s biographies, what they did yesterday, what they have done all their lives,” he insisted.
“I hope that the result will be beneficial for millions of Brazilians, who do not need to be governed, but who need to be cared for, to take care of children, women, the elderly and s “take care of education, health and well-being,” he said.
Bolsonaro, “with hope”
Bolsonaro, disqualified for delegitimizing democratic institutions and under investigation for allegedly plotting a coup d’état against Lulahas not yet recognized his defeat in the 2022 presidential elections, which he narrowly lost to the progressive leader.
In Rio, he decided to support Ramagem, who led the Brazilian Intelligence Agency in his government (2019-2022) and who is now the subject of an investigation by a alleged illegal espionage plot.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro poses with Rio de Janeiro mayoral candidate Alexandre Ramagem
Reuters
Regarding the close election for the mayor of Sao Paulo, he reaffirmed his support for the current mayor, Ricardo Nunes, although he predicted that if he does not make it to the second round, he will support “anyone from other” against the candidate and deputy of Lula, Guilherme Boulos. , even the influencer Pablo Marçal.
Marçal, a businessman who became famous on social networks thanks to his motivational courses, has fractured Bolsonarism in the capital São Paulo and polls place him tied with Nunes and very close to Boulos.
