Bolsonaro is defeated in the municipal elections of Brazil

 

By Nivaldo Santana

CTB International Relations Secretary 

On November 15 (1st round), Brazilian voters chose the mayors, vice-mayors and councilors of the country's 5,570 municipalities. In all, 67,800 elective public positions were filled. The second round of the elections, on November 29, involved 57 of the 95 Brazilian municipalities that have more than 200 thousand inhabitants. The Brazilian federative system is divided into 26 states and the Federal District. The base is the municipalities in which the new mayors and councilors were chosen. A preliminary assessment of the elections confirms the view that President Bolsonaro's popularity is declining. His poor performance in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic crisis, unemployment and his anti-democratic practices erode his political prestige. To some extent, it can be said that Trump's defeat in the United States and the advance of popular democratic forces in Bolivia and Chile also create a more favorable environment for the opposition. In this context, the vast majority of candidates supported by Bolsonaro suffered important defeats. This is the first positive aspect of the electoral process. Another important fact was the defeat of parties and candidates who deny political activity and pose themselves as true outsiders. In the 2018 presidential elections, who brought Bolsonaro to power, dozens of leaders were elected with the discourse of denial of the political system, institutions and the democratic rule of law. Two years later, these hypocritical speeches were not successful and were rejected by the population. If the extreme right was a defeat, which is a consensus among the vast majority of analysts, the truth is that the liberal and center right parties were the main beneficiaries of the discredit of the Bolsonaro government. The main city halls and the largest number of councilors were in the hands of conservative parties, adepts of economic neoliberalism, averse to labor and social demands. The difference, however, is that these political forces respect the democratic rule of law and do not agree with the coup dictators of the Bolsonaro government and its followers. The left and the democratic opposition, although they were not the main winners of the elections, managed to stop the fascist tsunami that has plagued the country in the past two years and have placed themselves as relevant protagonists of the Brazilian political process. After the coup that led to the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and the victory of Jair Bolsonaro in the 2018 presidential elections, the Brazilian left achieved important political gains in the elections and is accredited to play a large role in the 2022 general elections. The Communist Party of Brazil, in particular, performed similarly to the other left parties. The votes and victories achieved were below the established goals, mainly due to the large and restrictive changes in the electoral legislation and the difficulties in campaigning amid the serious pandemic that is plaguing the country. In the country as a whole, PCdoB elected 46 mayors and more than 700 councilors. In the city of Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul, the PCdoB candidate, Manuela D’Ávila, had an exceptional performance and did not reach victories by a small margin. The next challenges for the PCdoB, based on a careful evaluation of the elections, successes and also the shortcomings, is to prepare for the great battles underway. The main line is the quest to build a broad unity of political and social forces to defeat the Bolsonaro government and open a new route for economic development with sovereignty, democracy and appreciation of work.