Traffic extracurricular the Central Bank of Brazil office successful Brasilia, Brazil, connected Monday, June 17, 2024.
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Brazilians voted connected Sunday for mayors and metropolis councilors successful much than 5,500 municipal elections, with polls showing blimpish candidates moving beardown successful respective large cities, mounting the country's governmental scenery up of a 2026 statesmanlike race.
All eyes are connected the mayoral ballot successful Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, wherever 3 candidates are moving cervix and cervix aft an assertive campaign, mounting the signifier for a second-round runoff connected Oct. 27.
Center-right incumbent Mayor Ricardo Nunes, who led the contention until past week, is tied for 2nd spot astatine 26% of the votes with far-right integer influencer Pablo Marçal, an unprecedented divided successful the blimpish vote, according to a canvass connected Saturday.
Leftist Congressman Guilherme Boulos, who is supported by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Workers Party, has edged guardant connected the eve of the predetermination and is starring the tract with 29%, pollster Datafolha found.
Marçal, an anti-establishment governmental novice who has surged successful the polls with his vitriolic attacks connected adversaries, ran a societal media run with small backing and nary TV time. He has headlined the quality for weeks since a furious fifth-placed candidate hit him with a chair during a televised debate.
Polls showed that candidates linked to Lula are facing occupation arsenic the president's popularity has slipped in his 3rd non-consecutive term.
"As agelong arsenic ideology exists, the people's close to take volition exist, for amended oregon for worse," Lula said aft casting his ballot connected Sunday. "What we cannot let to hap is that radical ballot uninformed."
He has mostly avoided taking to the run way for mayoral candidates, though their occurrence would boost his chances successful 2026, erstwhile helium is expected to tally for re-election.
On the right, candidates associated with hard-right erstwhile President Jair Bolsonaro person fared better, adjacent though helium was banned from seeking elected office until 2030 for his unfounded attacks connected Brazil's voting system.
"The anti-establishment views of the close person go the trend," said governmental hazard adept Creomar de Souza.
Lula's Workers Party is astatine hazard of not winning a azygous authorities capital, noted Andre Cesar, expert astatine Hold Legislative Advisors.
Both analysts said Lula apt kept his campaigning to a minimum to debar being associated with losing candidates.
Bolsonaro besides stayed distant from the Sao Paulo campaign, which analyzable his alliances. He officially endorsed Nunes for re-election, but avoided signaling a video for his campaign.
He appeared to region himself from Nunes arsenic anti-establishment Marçal grew successful the polls from a acheronian equine to wrong a whisker of the runoff. On Sunday, Bolsonaro said helium would enactment anyone facing Boulos successful a imaginable runoff.
Voting started astatine 8 a.m. (1100 GMT) and closes astatine 5 p.m. (2000 GMT). To triumph outright successful the archetypal round, candidates for politician of cities of 200,000 voters oregon much request to summation much than 50% of valid votes.
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