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Writer's pictureCeleste Bueno Mazoni

Brazil Elections in the Southeast Region: Polarizing or United?

The mayor and councilor elections took place yesterday on the 6th of October, and the results quickly came in, bringing heated discussions as many cities ended up with second rounds, which happen when not a single candidate gets more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round. These elections aren’t as debated as the presidential ones, but they are still extremely impactful, which is why it’s important to discuss the results and how they affect the future of cities, most specifically, in this article, the capitals of the Southeastern states.



Belo Horizonte - Minas Gerais


Belo Horizonte had an interesting election this year, presenting an innovative proposal relating to the city’s flag. The election for the mayor still has not ended, as the choice will be forwarded to a second round, where both main options will compete against each other. The competition is between Bruno Engler, from the PL party, and Fuad Noman, from the PSD party, who is the current mayor of the city. After all the votes were registered, it can be confirmed that Bruno Engler received the most votes with 34,38% ( equal to 435.853 votes) while Fuad Noman had 26,54% ( equal to 336.442). Even though Engler had the most votes he still was not able to surpass fifty percent of the votes, meaning the elections will have to move to a second round. It is important to highlight that since Fuad is currently the mayor and has already displayed his work to the public he may or may not have an advantage in the second round. Even though  Engler had many more votes in the first round, he still cannot be declared as the winner because there are people who voted for other candidates that can now choose to vote for Fuad instead; however, it is still very likely that Engler will win.


An innovative proposal was presented to the people prior to the elections, as this proposal would also take part in the citizen’s directions. This proposal was to change the flag of Belo Horizonte, which surprisingly, many didn’t even know existed. The idea to redesign the flag initially emerged from social media, when graphic designer Gabriel Figueredo shared his flag design across various platforms. Figueredo shared his opinions towards the current flag, stating that the design did not represent the city and that it should be simplified, so everyone can memorize it. The post ended up viral, leading to an enormous amount of comments suggesting that the design should actually be considered by the public. Eventually, the design was officially proposed, asking them whether they approved the new flag or not. The people spoke, and 84% of them voted to not apply the new flag, and the reasons varied: some said it would be unnecessary, wasting money towards a useless thing, while others simply just didn’t like the design.



São Paulo - São Paulo


São Paulo had very chaotic and discussed events prior to the elections which likely affected the end results. The election is heading to a second round, and the two competitors were quite surprising. The two candidates who are competing against each other in the second round are Ricardo Nunes, from the MDB party, and Guilherme Boulos, from the PSOL party.  After all the votes were determined, it was confirmed that Ricardo Nunes had the most votes with 29,48% ( equal to 1.801.139 votes) while Guilherme Boulos had 29,07% ( equal to 1.776.127). This was an extremely close fight, but despite Nunes having a bigger amount of votes, the election will still move to a second round as he was not able to surpass more than fifty percent of the votes. 


The surprising thing about this situation was that the candidate Pablo Marçal was not able to enter this competition. Marçal was probably one of the most media-popular candidates in the elections, gaining significant attention from the media. His visibility increased due to his candidacy being discussed widely, where a lot of newspapers and other media platforms talked about him, but despite of his media presence, including scandals such as the chair-hitting incident with Datena,  and the loss of support from the former president Jair Boslonaro, Marçal was incapable of turning the table to his side, leading to a loss in the elections.


Now, it is time to move on and focus on what is important, which is the current election that will be taking place, as Nunes and Boulous will compete against each other to gain the vote of those who had previously voted on other candidates.



Rio de Janeiro - Rio de Janeiro


Despite its recognized popularity, Rio de Janeiro’s elections were not as discussed as other cities, such as the ones in São Paulo. In contrast to all the other cities previously discussed in the article, the elections will not be moving forward to a second round as the results were already determined. The now-elected mayor of Rio de Janeiro is Eduardo Paes, from the PSD party, with 60,47% of the votes ( equivalent to 1.861.856 votes). The second-placed candidate was Alexandre Ramagem, from the PL party, only had 30,81% ( equivalent to 948.631 votes). Ricardo Paes, was and still is the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, being reelected this Sunday. Paes is on the path to becoming the longest-living mayor of the famous capital, with 4.384 days in his role.


Vitória- Espírito Santo


Vitória, similar to Rio de Janeiro, also had straight-forward elections, leading to direct results with no second round. The now-elected mayor of Vitória is Lorenzo Pazolini, from the REPUBLICANOS party with 56,22% of the votes (equivalent to 105.599 votes), and the second placed candidate was João Coser, from the PT party, with 15,62% ( equivalent to 29.399 votes). Lorenzo Pazolini, who was already the mayor of Vitória, was reelected this Sunday, October 6th.



As the elections of some cities come to an end, others are still pending with their mayoral runoffs. Second rounds are crucial since they will define the elected candidate on a much bigger scale, as all the other candidates are now out, making the ones who voted for them create a decision as to whom to choose. Who do you think will win in the Belo Horizonte and São Paulo elections?




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