07/07/2024 – 8:15
While in most of the country the polarization represented by the groups of the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and the former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) tends to directly interfere in the municipal elections, in Manaus the tone should be different. The local issues, especially in the debate on public security, and a dispute between a more traditional politics represented by the current mayor and candidate for reelection, David Almeida (Avante) and a new generation represented, for example, by federal deputy Amom Mandel (Cidadania), only 23 years old and in his first term as deputy.
“Here, parties are mixed and names are mixed; regional issues are predominant and this explains certain alliances. Politics in Amazonas is guided by groups and not by parties or ideologies. In their efforts to govern the state, candidates use the municipal elections as a rehearsal, and this determines certain alliances, beyond certain ideological situations,” says political scientist and professor at the Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam), Gilson Gil.
In previous years, the capital has not innovated much in its choices and has elected mayors from the center to the right of the political spectrum. For example, Amazonino Mendes, a former governor, has been mayor three times, as has Arthur Neto (no party affiliation). Alfredo Nascimento (PL) has been elected to the post twice, as has Manoel Henriques Ribeiro; the survey considered the years 1983 to 2021.
According to the Real Time Big Data poll, released on May 27 and commissioned by Record, when their names were presented to voters, Amon Mandel and David Almeida achieved 25% and 24% of voting intentions, respectively. Federal deputy Alberto Neto (PL) appears in third place with 13% and Roberto Cidade (União) right after, with 12%.
The pre-candidates for this election tend to explore especially the issue of the lack of security in the region. State revealed that the Amazon region has become the target of a dispute between the PCC, Comando Vermelho and 20 other factions. In addition, the security plan for the area has not been implemented one year after the promise made by the Lula government.
“There has been an exponential growth in urban violence and drug use; today, some neighborhoods are under the control of drug traffickers who control the logistics of drug distribution to the rest of the country and abroad,” analyzes consultant and professor of international relations, Breno Leite.
According to the 2024 Public Security Map, a survey conducted by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, Manaus is the third city with the highest number of intentional homicides in the country. The city reached a total of 866 annual victims in 2023. The study considers the total number of homicides. “If we consider the populations of the cities and do the calculation to find proportionality, Manaus ranks first in the intentional homicide rate: 41.9 for every 100,000 inhabitants,” says state deputy Comandante Dan (Podemos), president of the Public Security Committee of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Amazonas (Aleam).
A tangle of ancient roots
The Amazonian political game is complex. In 2020, in the last municipal election, the current mayor, David Almeida, was with Governor Wilson Lima (União), and received support from União Brasil to defeat Senator Eduardo Braga (MDB) and former Governor Amazonino Mendes. Currently, the alliance between Almeida and Lima has fallen apart, as has the party’s support. Since the mayor was unsuccessful in negotiating with his allies, União now tends to put forward its own candidate: Roberto Cidade.
Currently, senators Braga and Omar Aziz (PSD) are interested in Cidade’s candidacy, who presides over the ALEAM. Wilson Lima’s shift to the right and Almeida’s inertia regarding the senators’ negotiations were responsible for this recalculation of the route. “Starting in the second year of the current mayor’s term, he was encouraged to dance several ‘toadas de boi’. The governor asked him to dance, but they didn’t get the steps right. Of the three senators from Amazonas, two flirted with him (Aziz and Braga). They looked at each other, but didn’t get the dance in tune”, says Raimundo Nonato, political scientist at the Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam).
Almeida faces difficulties even with the government in his hands. The mayor is criticized by his opponents for focusing on leisure activities, events and small projects, and for not addressing issues such as urban mobility, security and infrastructure very much. When contacted by the press, the politician’s press office did not respond to the questions.
Manaus, as can be seen in the 2022 presidential elections, is a city that tends to the right. It was one of only three cities in the state where former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) defeated current president Lula (PT): 61.28% to 38.72% in the second round. The Workers’ Party has had difficulty establishing itself in the region and is stronger in the interior of the state. The Bolsa Família program contributed to the positive scenario in the outskirts, but the president’s relationship with Lava Jato has damaged the party’s image in the capital.
The PT’s pre-candidate will be former federal deputy Marcelo Ramos (PT). Having recently joined the party with Lula’s approval, he was not reelected to the Chamber of Deputies after serving a term marked by his opposition to the Bolsonaro government. The PT’s national secretary for women, Anne Moura, also put herself forward as a pre-candidate, but withdrew after talking to the head of the federal executive branch, who represented Ramos.
On the other side of the polarization, federal deputy Alberto Neto (PL) wants to raise awareness for the right: “In this election, I represent the right-wing political project led by President Jair Bolsonaro. This is not symbolic support. I want to show that Manaus is an example of a city that cultivates the values we cherish most: ‘God, Country, family, order and freedom’. He argues that the city needs a “shock of order” so that the situation can be restructured.
Another pre-candidate, Amom Mandel, is a young former city councilman and current federal deputy. His goal is to break with the status quo, which he identifies as “old political practices”. “I am independent (…) I am in a party that allows me to make my own decisions, precisely because I want to combat these old practices that have put Amazonas in the worst positions in social and economic rankings”, says the pre-candidate.
While Mandel defines himself as a “centrist,” Almeida is associated with the center-right. Up until now, the two will be competing in the elections on equal terms, at least in terms of numbers, as the polls show. The pre-candidate for Cidadania, however, may have to abandon his centrist position in order to strengthen his position.
“The weight of the administrative machine is very large and this ends up making the current manager a favorite for reelection. There is room for newcomers, like Amom, in a situation of dissatisfaction. However, he will have to make agreements and end up having to ally himself with some of the dominant groups, if he really wants to win in a possible second round”, says professor Gilson Gil.
Regardless of who is elected, the relationship with the national and state executives will not be one of complete opposition on the part of the municipal manager. According to political scientist and Ufam professor Ludolf Junior, “Amazonas is a relatively peripheral state in Brazil, so it often needs the support of federal resources and politicians, evidently, in search of this, tend to be more pragmatic when making decisions.”
See who the pre-candidates are in Manaus:
– David Almeida (Avante), mayor
– Amom Mandel (Citizenship), deputy
– Captain Alberto Neto (PL), federal deputy
– Carol Menezes (PP), Army reserve colonel
– Maria do Carmo Seffair, lawyer and professor and dean
– Marcelo Ramos (PT), lawyer and former federal deputy
– Roberto Cidade (Union Brazil), state deputy
– Wilker Barreto (Mobiliza), state deputy
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