This year, the Mayoral’s election has been played out in Brazil, but emphasis is given to the biggest Brazilian capital: São Paulo. With the fiercest dispute since redemocratization, the first round ended with almost three candidates with the same vote results, but only two passed to the second round. Unfortunately, aggressive episodes made this election one of the most violent in history, turning the democracy scenario more fragile and instable than ever.
Future is made by promises or actions?
Many candidates announced their candidature, but only Tabata Amaral (PSB), Ricardo Nunes (MDB), Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), Pablo Marçal (PRTB), Datena (PSDB) and Marina Helena (NOVO) received recognition enough for TV debates and vote count. During the campaign, the proposals shown were associated to public health and education, urban mobility, and daily problems in São Paulo – like how to deal with Cracolândia’s stalemate.
Some of the promises that stood out affected directly social issues present in the capital. Tabata faced the misogyny culture by pledging to follow the current federal law that guarantees abortion in cases of sexual abuse, while Guilherme Boulos affirmed that in his government there will be patrols to fight against domestic violence and mobile units to offer phycological assistance, so the vulnerable population could take care of their mental health. Ricardo Nunes was also a character who tried to propose changes according to the problems that affected people’s lives, as he promised to expand the vegetal coverage to avoid floods and improve life quality in the city.
In parallel, the other opponents didn’t emphasize projects turned to solve social issues. Datena directed his campaign to affirm that the money collected from taxes will be used to buy more corporal cameras for police officers, while Marçal promised to invest in reforms to alleviate the traffic in the capital, but also to construct civic-military schools.
The São Paulo’s Society in division
On October 6th, the voting results came out: Ricardo Nunes (MDB) and Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) were the candidates who kept in the fight for São Paulo’s city hall. According to the counting of votes, carried out by the Supreme Electoral Court, Nunes got 29,48%, while Boulos ended up with 29,07%.
A new ideological tendency, caused by the intense use of internet, provoked a radical division in the capital’s voters, but also almost brought three candidates to technical tie. With 28,14% of the votes, Pablo Marçal was left out of the second round for Mayoral, an unusual episode in politic scenario, since the other participants usually get an inferior percentage than the two most voted.
Internet as an ally in the politic dispute
A tendency seen during the Brazilian presidential elections in 2018 is repeating itself on São Paulo’s mayoral elections, since the political candidates has been using the internet as an ally on the dispute. By spreading videos and lives that promised political and social changes in Brazil, the internet contributed to a positive impact on Jair Bolsonaro’s image for winning. The candidates have used this strategy to improve their popularity among the electors in 2024.
Adopting a radical speech, the coach Pablo Marçal became famous for his polemic videos that promised revolutions on public safety and economy, but also insulted women, disdained labor rights, and spread lies about the other candidates. Even with an aggressive posture, social media made his hate statements so popular that conceded him a result of 28,14% of votes in the election’s first round.
This polemic figure had his social media blocked by the Supreme Electoral Court, because of the falsification of Boulos’ toxicological report – an action that is considered by the government as defamation through political publicity and forgery of documents-, in addition, his accounts were investigated for being associated with an organization that distributed money for those who like and shared his posts. In this scenario, Marçal became the candidate that most spread fake news against his opponents.
Unfortunately, episodes like the one mentioned are frequent in Brazil, since the country does not have laws that prevent disinformation about politicians on the internet, as seen in Europe and North America. According to the Supreme Electoral Court, 49,8% of politicians who use Instagram belong to right-wing parties, like Pablo Marçal. It is worth highlighting that all parties – whether right-wing, center, or left-wing – can share fake news and disrespect other politicians, but the data shows that right-wing parties use the internet more than left-wing and center parties to propagate their ideologies, which can come accompanied with hate speech against minorities.
Problems and polemics behind the election’s campaigns
The politic scenario was unstable during the elections, as the campaigns were not respecting the rules, while the candidates were offending each other. Thanks to this stance, this election was considered the most violent one since re-democratization, as mentioned earlier.
The violence was seen in the hate attacks in the televised debates, where the politicians spent more time offending the opponents than proposing solutions for the society’s real problems. However, the violent stance was not restricted to words, as the body aggression involving José Luís Datena and Pablo Marçal became the most famous episode of the entire process. The attack happened during a debate held by TV Cultura, in which the presenter hit the coach with a chair, after being called “weak”.
After the fight, Datena was expelled from the debate and Marçal went to hospital. Making a scene for his followers, the influencer posted a video in which he was “supposedly unconscious” inside an ambulance, so he could become more viral between the electors. In later pronouncements, he compared his attack to the murder attempts on Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro.
Other tense moments were played out between Tabata Amaral and Ricardo Nunes, when she asked him about assaulting his wife, while Guilherme Boulos e Pablo Marçal faced each other after the coach shared a fake toxicology test affirming that Boulos was a drug user.
A true democracy victory?
The election’s results came in October 27th, re-electing the currently mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB). The victory came after he obtained 59,35% of the votes, while his competitor, Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), ended with 40,65% of valid votes. With an impressive performance, Ricardo Nunes won in 54 of the 57 electoral zones.
Adopting a conservative stance, the actual mayor won over his voters by promising to strengthen the economy and stimulate job creation, but also by avoiding sensitive topics that could tarnish his image, such as the legalization of drugs or abortion. Even though the internet has become an electoral ally, this election showed that virtual campaigns are important for political scenario but made it clear that debates and TV advertising are still crucial to electing a candidate.
Counting on the support of São Paulo’s governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, and the state’s propaganda machine, Ricardo Nunes stood out when compared to Guilherme Boulos, whose image was damaged by “anti-left” feeling. These results help to understand that the right-wing parties know how to take advantage of the scenario of fragility and division in society to improve their “crusade” against the leftists.
In parallel, the data revealed that, with scarce resources, only a miracle could give Boulos the governance position. Instead of keeping his stance as a politician who fights for minorities, Guilherme Boulos chose to forget his ideology and his voters by meeting with the radical Pablo Marçal in a live on the coach’s social media. This attempt to get closer to an extreme conservative group cost the electors who could have made the difference in the results for left-wing parties.
After the entire process, the question that remains is how the value of an ideology is and how social fights can be replaced for more numbers in a poll.
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The article above was edited by Ana Beatriz Aith.
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