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São Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes , backed by far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), will seek re-election in the runoff against Congressman Guilherme Boulos , a candidate supported by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , after the municipal elections this Sunday.
Nunes obtained 29.49% of the votes, compared to 29.06% for Boulos, in one of the closest races in recent decades in the capital of São Paulo, which was only decided with 99.52% of the vote count completed , according to data from the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE).
The ultra-right influencer and businessman Pablo Marçal, who divided the far-right camp with a predominantly bellicose and provocative style, finally narrowly missed out on the second round, finishing in third place with 28.14% of the vote.
A difference of some 55,000 votes prevented this guru who made a name for himself on social media by giving motivational talks on how to make easy money from advancing to the runoff.
Further behind were the Socialist MP Tabata Amaral (9.92%) and the television presenter José Luiz Datena (1.84%), who attacked Marçal with a chair in a television debate.
Second round of elections in Sao Paulo
The second round of elections in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic powerhouse and the country’s largest electoral college with 9.3 million voters, will be held on the 27th.
Boulos was already in the second round of the 2020 municipal elections, although on that occasion he lost to Bruno Covas, who died a year later from cancer, at which time Ricardo Nunes took over.
For this appointment he obtained Lula’s support, a historic gesture, since it was the first time since redemocratization in 1985 that the Workers’ Party (PT ), which Lula founded, renounced having its own candidate in the capital of São Paulo.
Leader of the homeless movement and federal deputy for the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), Boulos called for unity for “change” to make a city “more just, more civilized and safer.”
“Our project is to create a city for everyone, more humane,” he said shortly before the results were made official.
Tepid support for Bolsonaro
Nunes, a businessman and member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), “moved to the right” and received lukewarm support from Bolsonaro during the campaign.
In his last year in office, he launched a vast infrastructure improvement plan and, with the public machinery in his favour, managed to capture the centre-right vote.
However, Marçal put his projection at risk, capturing the votes of evangelical parishioners, far-right voters and those dissatisfied with his management.
After the vote count, Nunes first thanked God for the result in the first round, then the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, and finally Bolsonaro.
Brazil held municipal elections on Sunday to elect mayors and councillors in 5,569 cities across the country.
