Defeated at the polls two years ago in the presidential elections, the Brazilian extreme right found new colors during the first round of the municipal elections, held on Sunday, October 6. The candidates supported by former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023) won or will contest a second round in almost half of the country’s regional capitals.
Around 155 million Brazilians were called to the polls to renew the composition of the more than 5,500 municipal councils in Brazil. The vote, which only has one round in cities with fewer than 200,000 voters, serves as a midterm test for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (left) and as a test before the next presidential elections, scheduled for 2026.
Despite a favorable economic record, with unemployment falling, inflation under control and gross domestic product expected to rise by at least 3% this year, the elections did not favor the left. The Workers’ Party (PT) certainly won in 238 municipalities, compared to 182 in 2020. But it will only contest a second round in four of the 26 regional capitals, each time with very little chance of winning.
Collapse of the Workers’ Party at the local level
The same thing happened in Porto Alegre (south), a symbol city of the left, which the PT governed brilliantly during the 1990s. The party’s deputy and candidate, Maria do Rosario, only obtained 26.28% of the votes, far behind. behind the left. The outgoing mayor, Sebastiao Melo, of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB, right), who narrowly missed victory in the first round (49.72%).
“The PT failed to stop its collapse at the local level, which began during the 2016 municipal elections, where it lost 60% of its mayoralties. It is still very fragile in big cities”says Claudio Couto, political scientist at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. Instead, “Bolsonarianism has been able to demonstrate its resilience during these elections, especially in the big cities”adds the researcher.
The Liberal Party (PL), of which Jair Bolsonaro is honorary president, won two regional capitals in the first round: Maceió (Northeast) and Rio Branco (North). It will compete in the second round from a strong position in nine other cities, such as Belo Horizonte (southeast), Fortaleza (Northeast) and Cuiabá (central-west), but also in Manaus and Belém, the two largest cities in the Amazon. .
Members of the “Bolsonaro clan” also obtained often significant scores. Jair Renan, 26, the former president’s fourth son, won a seat on the municipal council of the town of Balneario Camboriú (south). The second of the brothers, Carlos, was this Sunday the best elected municipal councilor in Rio de Janeiro, with more than 130,000 votes to his name.
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