06/10/2024 – 8:35
Porto Alegre will repeat this year the clash in the national field between PT and PL, the same as in the presidential campaign two years ago, but the two favorite candidates in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul almost shrugged their shoulders at the national leaders of the parties.
On the one hand, the current mayor Sebastião Melo (MDB), leader in the polls, has the military member Betina Worm (PL) as his vice-president, but is balancing himself so as not to displease the portion of the electorate averse to the administration of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Maria do Rosário (PT) does not hide her ally Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but makes gestures to the center, saying she is in favor of flags that are not always aligned with PT practice.
A Quaest survey released yesterday with the valid votes in the dispute showed Melo with 50%, and the PT candidate with 26%. She is technically tied with Juliana Brizola (PDT), who has 23%. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
“The polarization has gone by the wayside here. Melo’s vice position is a secret hidden in broad daylight, and the mayor avoided the sensitive topics of customs politics. The topics that most mobilized were the flood that occurred in the city and issues such as daycare vacancies”, says political scientist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) Rodrigo Stumpf.
Melo is once again following the script that gave him victory in 2020. At the time, the emedebista already had the support of Bolsonaro, but used the justification that he was supported by a broad party coalition to modulate the speech. This scenario repeats itself this year, in which it leads a front with eight parties. His speeches do not mention canvassers and focus on defending brands from the first term.
Maria do Rosário, former Minister of Human Rights in Dilma Rousseff’s government, is making gestures to the center in an attempt to mitigate the rejection of voters averse to the left. She promises to remain faithful to fiscal responsibility and said that she voted, as a federal deputy, in favor of the project that ended the provisional release of prisoners. Lula was not on any agenda with the candidate in the capital. The president only appeared in videos recorded for campaign pieces.
In Stumpf’s assessment, the strategy opened space for the left’s votes to be divided between the PT member and Juliana Brizola, granddaughter of former governor Leonel Brizola. She presented herself as a candidate closer to the center and received support from the current governor of the state, Eduardo Leite (PSDB). “Maria do Rosário’s decision to run a centrist candidacy made the difference between her and Juliana Brizola less clear. This may have contributed to a division of votes on the left.”
CURITIBA
The municipal election in the capital of Paraná has the current vice-mayor, Eduardo Pimentel (PSD), leading the polls. Supported by Bolsonaro, he preferred to focus on local issues, such as public transport and daycare spaces. Quaest research brought the candidate with 30% of valid votes, compared to 26% for Cristina Graeml (PMB). Considering the margin of error of plus or minus 3 points, they are technically tied.
The current administration is the target of criticism due to the value of the local public transport fare, R$6. This issue mobilized the campaigns. Luciano Ducci (PSB), with 23% of voting intentions, promised free Sundays, and Pimentel, to cut the amount in half on the same days.
“It is more difficult to bring the criteria of national elections to cities. In Curitiba, both Lavajatismo and Bolsonarism did not present any leaders. They entered as vice. This made this link with national politics difficult”, says Emerson Urizzi Cervi, professor at the Department of Political Science at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR).
FLORIANOPOLIS
The capital of Santa Catarina is the only one of the three in the South where polls indicate the possibility of victory in the first round. According to Quaest, the current mayor, Topázio Neto (PSD), appears with 53% of the valid votes. Next come Marquinho (PSOL), with 21%, and Dário Berger (PSDB), with 14%. The margin of error is three percentage points.
The current president’s main electoral campaign is the state governor, Jorginho Mello (PL), with whom he usually appears in campaign events. However, the partnership between them is treated more from a management point of view, says political scientist at the Federal University of Santa Catarina Julian Borba. “Bolsonaro was a missing character in the campaign. Jorginho Mello appeared to show the affinity between the two administrations, not in an ideological sense, but from an administration point of view”.
The PT candidate, Vanderlei Lela, was the only one who called for national polarization, reinforcing his bond with Lula. He is fourth in the polls; In front of him, there is the former mayor of the city Dario Berger (PSDB).
The information is from the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.
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