Las last local elections in Brazil have left behind a growth of forces further to the right, among them the Liberal Party (PL) of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who obtained 15.7 million votes this Sunday, which represents more than 230 percent compared to the results achieved in 2020.
The right has won in 5 percent more cities than four years ago, its best result in a local election since 2000, while turnout among the left fell 13 percentwhile the blocks of ‘center‘ they won in most of the cities in dispute.
Even with everything the Workers’ Party (PT) of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has obtained better results than in 2020achieving 8.9 million votes, and despite the fact that unlike Bolsonaro he has been less visible in the campaign, a strategy that could change now that many left-wing candidates are playing the second round with very conservative options.
Despite experiencing the largest increase compared to the previous elections, Bolsonaro’s party has been fifth in mayors achieved. This is explained by the strategy launched by the PL board of directors to have the greatest number of candidates possible, from 970 in 2020 to 1,483 in 2024.
It has been four forces of the ‘centrão’ – which are located on the right, but always move around the Government to achieve privileges that they then distribute among their clientele networks – that have managed to obtain a greater number of mayors and place them in the second round in places like Sao Paulo, or Belo Horizonte.
Thus, the Social Democratic Party (PSD); the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB); Unión Brasil and Progresistas (PP) have taken over 54 percent of the cities in dispute, although Bolsonaro’s PL is the one with the most disputes open for the second round scheduled for October 27.
According to Brazilian electoral law, in cities with more than 200,000 voters, a second round is held in the event that none of the candidates manages to exceed 50 percent of the votes in the first round. After Sunday’s results, the race is open in fifty cities, including 15 capitals.
Los Lula and Bolsonaro candidates —Guilherme Boulos of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) and the current mayor, Ricardo Nunes from MDBrespectively– will compete for the Mayor’s Office of Sao Paulo.
