RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Left-wing parties stacked up significant losses in the second round of municipal elections. The PT (Workers’ Party) failed to elect any mayor in a capital city for the first time in history. The PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party) candidate in São Paulo, Guilherme Boulos, suffered a larger setback than projected in the polls. Only the PDT (Democratic Labour Party) of presidential candidate Ciro Gomes and the PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party) performed well with this Sunday’s results.
The PT had great hopes in Vitória with ex-mayor João Coser and in Recife with federal deputy Marília Arraes. Neither of them succeeded at the polls. Coser was defeated by Bolsonarist Lorenzo Pazolini (Republicans) by 58.50% to 41.40%. Marília lost to her cousin João Campos, a member of the PSB, another party identified with the left. Campos took 56.01% of the votes, against 43.99% for the PT candidate. The PT set up a task force to elect Marília, with the direct involvement of ex-president Lula in the campaign, while Campos garnered support from center-right parties in the second round.
Ex-leader of the homeless movement Guilherme Boulos, this election’s great surprise, fell well behind the results projected on the eve of the election. He took 40.55% of the vote, against 59.45% for the PSDB’s (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) Bruno Covas. Projections suggested a margin of about ten percentage points between candidates before the election.
Manuela D’Ávila (PCdoB – Communist Party of Brazil), who was a candidate for vice-president in PT’s Fernando Haddad slate in 2018, was defeated in Porto Alegre by Sebastião Melo (MDB – Brazilian Democratic Movement). He had 54.32% of the votes, against 45.69% for the communist. The PCdoB also suffered a major defeat in São Luís, where the governor of Maranhão, Flávio Dino (PCdoB), bet his chips on Duarte Júnior (Republicans). He had 44.47% of the votes, against 55.53% for Eduardo Braide (Podemos – former National Labor Party).
At the national level, the PT is more aligned with the PCdoB and the PSOL. Ironically, the left-wing’s best results came from parties that do not intend to align with ex-president Lula’s party in 2022. The PDT elected two mayors in capital cities. The party elected Edvaldo with 57.86% of the votes, defeating Deputy Danielle (Citizenship – former Popular Socialist Party), with 42.14%. It also won the Fortaleza city hall, Ciro Gomes’ electoral stronghold, with state deputy Sarto beating Bolsonarist Capitão Wagner by 51.68% to 48.32%.
The PSB, which is allied to the PDT at national level, also won in two capitals. In addition to Campos, elected in Recife, the party won in Maceió, where it beat the candidate supported by Senator Renan Calheiros’ political clan (MDB). Federal Deputy João Henrique Caldas won 58.40% of the votes, against 41.60% for Alfredo Gaspar de Mendonça (MDB). However, the PSB lost the Rio Branco city hall, where the candidate for reelection Socorro Neri was defeated by Tião Bocalom (PP – Progressives) by 62.91% to 37.09%.
The PSOL achieved an expressive result in Belém. The party elected Edmilson Rodrigues to the post, beating Bolsonarist Federal Deputy Eguchi by 51.76% to 48.24%.