Brazil’s Municipal Elections: How They Work; What They Mean – Part II

RIBEIRÃO PRETO, SP – This Sunday, November 15th, over 100 million Brazilian citizens will go to their local polling stations, in 5,570 municipalities, and cast two electronic votes: one for a city council position and one for a slate of mayor/deputy mayor candidates.

According to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), as of October 19th,  there are a total of 147,9 million persons eligible to vote; of these, almost one-tenth (14.5 million) are not legally required to vote, as they are either age 16-17 or over age 70.

Polls are open from 7 AM to 5 PM in each of Brazil’s three time zones. The period between 7 AM and 10 AM is preferential (but not exclusive) for voters over age 60.

The TSE rules establish that voters must wear masks to enter the polling station. They must also use alcohol gel on their hands, before and after voting. Social distancing rules (not less than 1 meter) apply while voters wait in line. Cell phones cannot enter voting booths, but voters can carry paper “cheat sheets” to help them remember their candidates’ numbers.

All candidates receive a specific election number, based on their political party affiliation. Each slate of mayoralty candidates has a 2-digit number – that of the party of the candidate for mayor. Each candidate for city council has a 5-digit number, where the first two are those of their party.

At the vote, the machine asks the voter to input the number of their chosen candidate. The screen shows the candidate’s name and picture and asks the voter to correct or confirm.

Voters who do not like any candidate, and either wish to protest or just avoid a fine for not voting, can push the white “branco” button on the machine. A “blank” vote will not count in the final tally. Similarly, if a voter confirms a non-existent number (e.g. “00”) the vote will be void and will not count. There are estimates that somewhere between 10 percent and 20 percent of the votes cast will be either blank or void.

The TSE expects to announce the official results of all elections, nationwide, by 9 PM (Brasília time) on Election Day. There will be no media projections, no contentious commentators explicating exit polls, no recounts, no false claims of victory or fraud. In short, an extremely civilized way for the citizenry to express its desires for the future.

Pundits will scrutinize the municipal results on three principal issues, all of which primarily relate to the 2022 national and state elections. The first is whether mayoralty candidates backed by President Jair Bolsonaro were successful; the second is which major political parties obtained the greatest number of local seats; third is whether any of the “minnow” parties were able to scrounge enough votes to secure government funding in 2022.

In the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro mayoralty races, the latest polls indicate there is a definite front-runner – incumbent SP Mayor Bruno Covas and ex-Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes – with closely contested three-way struggles to finish second and finagle a place in the runoff “winner take all” election on Sunday, November 29th.

Speaking of civilized elections, in most cities there are no “dry laws” prohibiting the serving of alcoholic beverages on Election Day. Moreover, a quirky election law prohibits arresting anyone that day, unless caught committing a crime. In Brazil’s less civilized past, powerful local authorities, called “colonels”, often arrested disfavored candidates and supporters, in an attempt to sway the election results.