07/07/2024 – 18:17
The mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), is facing pressure from both Bolsonaro supporters and a wing of his own campaign to abandon his discreet style – or, in the words of an ally, “subdued” – and take a more proactive stance in the election campaign. Criticism of the mayor’s style, often compared to that of former governor Rodrigo Garcia (PSDB), has different origins in the two groups.
For Bolsonaro supporters, the mayor needs to adopt a more right-wing stance and demonstrate a clearer alignment with former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), especially in relation to conservative issues such as abortion and the legalization of drugs. According to an ally, Nunes needs to “get off the fence” and stop being ambiguous.
A close ally of Bolsonaro says that the mayor’s lack of positioning could make him the “Rodrigo Garcia” of this election. The former governor, who is now leading Nunes’ government plan, positioned himself as a centrist candidate, outside of polarization, and finished the 2022 electoral race in third place, behind Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) and Fernando Haddad (PT), representatives of Bolsonaro and Lula (PT), respectively. Garcia had control of the public machine and majority support from the state’s mayors, a situation similar to that of Nunes, who has accumulated an army of councilors to campaign for his candidacy on the streets.
The mayor’s pre-campaign, however, thinks a little differently: Nunes has to stay in the center, but find a way to be less “obscure”. Although he has raised the evaluation of his government to the highest level in the latest Datafolha poll, Nunes is described by São Paulo voters in qualitative surveys as a mayor who “neither stinks nor smells” and, at times, seems more like a “landlord” than the ruler of the largest city in Latin America.
Last week, the campaign began discussing the need for the head of the Municipal Executive to appear more, especially on social media, where businessman and influencer Pablo Marçal, a PRTB candidate, leads in number of followers and engagement. The mayor of São Paulo has used the platforms in an institutional manner, rarely addressing issues involving his political opponents. The numbers illustrate this difference: while Nunes has 829 thousand followers on Instagram, Marçal has 11.3 million.
The wing that advocates for more positions argues that the mayor, although well placed in the polls, has not been able to lead the discussions that dominate the digital environment. As a result, he often finds himself on the defensive, trailing behind his opponents, especially Guilherme Boulos (PSOL-SP), with whom he shares the leadership in Datafolha, and Marçal, who seeks to win the support of the right with a speech more aligned with Bolsonaro’s. On the other hand, other members of the pre-campaign disagree, arguing that most voters are looking for a moderate candidate who does not represent ruptures in the city.
The general idea in the campaign is to avoid a shift to the right
However, a more assertive stance should not mean a shift to the right, as Bolsonaro supporters want, even with the recent nomination of former Rota commander Ricardo Mello Araújo for the position of vice mayor, on Bolsonaro’s recommendation. According to Nunes’s supporters, the campaign’s focus is on presenting the mayor’s achievements in the city, such as the Domingão Tarifa Zero program, the resurfacing program and the Faixa Azul program, relegating the ideological debate to the bottom of the list of priorities. When talking about his political stance, the mayor has distanced himself from Bolsonaro, reiterating that he is a centrist politician.
When tweeting about the Datafolha results, federal deputy Baleia Rossi (MDB), coordinator of Nunes’ campaign and president of the MDB, said that the mayor’s performance reinforces the campaign’s thesis that it is necessary to “discuss real problems, and not focus on ideological disputes that only foment discord”.
In a recent statement to the Jota website, Nunes described himself as a “defender of the right to differences and democracy.” And, despite stating that his relationship with Bolsonaro is one of “respect,” he emphasized that “political godfathers do not govern.” Even though Nunes wants to attract votes from the right, there is a fear that the former president’s high rejection rate in São Paulo will taint his candidacy.
Bolsonaro’s allies have been bothered by the lack of space
It is not just the lack of gestures to the right that has angered Bolsonaro supporters, who even after choosing Mello Araújo remain dissatisfied with the mayor. Members of parliament and people from former President Jair Bolsonaro’s inner circle have expressed discomfort with the lack of prestige in the PMDB candidate’s pre-campaign.
The bench allied with the former president in the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo (Alesp) is one of the sources of dissatisfaction. Deputies told State who, in addition to not being sought out by the mayor to discuss the city’s demands, do not usually receive invitations to participate in city hall events. This attitude, some members of parliament say, contrasts with the approach of former coach Pablo Marçal, who recently visited the Legislative Assembly to talk to right-wing deputies.
When asked about Bolsonaro’s demand for more right-wing positions from the mayor, Nunes’s supporters deny that there is pressure and claim that the head of the São Paulo executive branch has already publicly declared himself against the legalization of drugs and abortion. Last month, however, Estadão asked the mayor about his position on the abortion bill, but he did not comment on the matter.
Allies of the PMDB member assure that Bolsonaro and former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro are committed to the mayor’s reelection, although it is not yet clear what level of involvement the former president will have in the campaign – whether or not he will participate in television spots, for example. So far, the couple has been discreet in their expressions of support for Nunes on social media, the main means of communication between Bolsonaro supporters and activists.
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