Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro elect mayors in Brazil runoffs
BRA IL’S biggest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, voted for their next mayors on Sunday as the country held municipal runoffs, the last polls before far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is up for reelection in 2022.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic and cultural capital and the largest city in Latin America, centrist incumbent Bruno Covas faces leftist challenger Guilherme Boulos, a leader of the Homeless Workers’ Movement (MTST).
Boulos, 38, who is running for the upstart Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), trails in the polls by about 10 points, but enters the runoff with momentum.
Young, charismatic and hailed as the new face of Brazil’s battered left, he came
from behind in the first round on November 15 to beat both Bolsonaro’s candidate and a leftist rival from the more-established Workers’ Party (PT).
The runoff then took a twist two days before the vote when Boulos announced he had tested positive for the new
coronavirus, forcing the cancellation of the candidates’ final debate.
Observing quarantine and unable to vote, Boulos appeared on the balcony of his house Sunday with a handwritten sign reading “We’re going to turn this around ”
But Covas, 40, is also a fighter. A cancer survivor, he has a powerful backer in Sao Paulo state Governor Joao Doria, his predecessor and mentor, a top contender to challenge Bolsonaro for the presidency.
The pandemic has indelibly marked the municipal elections in the giant country of 212 million people.
Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the virus as a “little flu,” faces criticism for his handling of COVID-19, which has killed more than 172,000 people in
Brazil -- the second-highest death toll worldwide, after the United States.
The first-round vote went badly for Bolsonaro.
The so-called “Tropical Trump” upended Brazilian politics when he stormed to victory in the 2018 presidential race, but looks more vulnerable after helping elect just two of the 13 mayoral candidates he endorsed, and just nine of 45 city council candidates.
“As Trump would say, ‘He supported a bunch of losers,’” said political scientist David Fleischer of the University of Brasilia.
Traditional center-right and right-wing parties meanwhile emerged strengthened from the first round.
All eyes are now on how the runoffs will shape the political state of play ahead of 2022, when Bolsonaro is expected to seek reelection.
Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the virus as a “little flu,” faces criticism for his handling of COVID-19, which has killed more than 172,000 people in Brazil