Recent electoral debate in São Paulo is the one that discusses the most proposals but ends in expulsion and aggression

Brasil de Fato

The expectation that the format of the debate held by Grupo Flow on Monday (23) would favor the presentation of proposals was fulfilled in the first round of questions. Fearing that new episodes of violence could occur between the candidates, the model adopted sought to prevent direct confrontation between São Paulo mayoral candidates.

The format, however, did not prevent Pablo Marçal (Brazilian Renewal Labor Party) from verbally attacking the candidate for re-election Ricardo Nunes (Brazilian Democratic Movement), calling him “bananinha” (“little banana,” in a rough translation) and promising to arrest him if elected, which caused the former life coach to be expelled during the final considerations.

According to the rules of the debate, insults, swearing, and the use of derogatory nicknames were forbidden, and participants who broke any of the rules would receive warnings, being removed after receiving three warnings.

Outside the arena of discussion, another aggression marked the debate. An aide to Pablo Marçal punched Nunes’ spin doctor, Duda Lima, in the face, who left the studio bleeding.

Nahuel Medina, a member of the former life coach staff, was trying to film Marçal’s expulsion with a smartphone when Nunes’ spin doctor allegedly asked the man to leave, and was then punched. On social media, Medina later said he had only “instinctively defended himself.”

Format prevents confrontations between candidates

The questions were asked by experts, who covered six topics: education, health, homelessness, transportation, public security and accessibility. Following the same model, the questions in the following rounds were asked by voters, young people and internet users. Journalist Carlos Tramontina mediated the debate.

The draw of mayoral candidates to find out who would answer and who would comment also did not contribute to harsher questioning, given that the pairs drawn were closer on the ideological spectrum: Marina Helena (New Party) and Pablo Marçal (Brazilian Renewal Labor Party) shared the pulpit twice and used the opportunity to criticize the federal government when the topic was health.

The same happened with Tabata Amaral (Brazilian Socialist Party), Guilherme Boulos (Socialism and Liberty Party) and José Luiz Datena (Brazilian Social Democracy Party), who agreed on the solutions presented for problems such as the homeless population and public security.

Former prisoners

When answering a question from journalist Bruno Paes Manso, a specialist in public security, Boulos highlighted the importance of creating public policies aimed at supporting former prisoners and mentioned it as part of the solutions for the so-called “Cracolândia” region, a kind of Skid Row in the city of São Paulo known for the high rates of crack use. “It’s very important to separate users from dealers when talking about drug addicts. [And] in the case of people from the prison system, to have an inclusion policy that includes education, culture, jobs and mental health recovery.”

Commenting on the same question, Tabata Amaral presented the “Capacitaí” program as a solution, which aims to train young people in technology so they can be hired by big tech companies based in São Paulo. “Google, Microsoft, Amazon, they are all here. Google has been pointing out that, in the tech area, there are countless vacancies, thousands of vacancies that are still open, because in São Paulo we don’t have people trained and prepared for this area.”

She reinforced full-time schooling as a necessary measure to reduce homicide among young people. “This is my main goal in education: to guarantee that 100% of children will be in school all day long, attending robotics, English, theater, ballet, and judo classes. It’s a security [guarantee] for mothers who can then work in peace,” she proposed.

Education

Ricardo Nunes (Brazilian Democratic Movement) was more confronted when he had to answer, for example, why São Paulo was below the national and state average in the percentage of literate children, according to data from the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep, in Portuguese). Specialist Tereza Perez, from the non-governmental organization Roda Educativa, pointed out that only 38% of children reached the end of the second year knowing how to read and write, below the state average, which was 52%, and the national average, which is 56%.

Nunes again blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for the educational problems the city faces and presented different data from the INEP database. “The São Paulo test recorded 89% of our children being literate. And we have the basis for achieving 100% of our children being literate in the coming years.”

For Tabata Amaral, the pandemic cannot be an excuse, because “Brazil has managed to recover, but São Paulo has fallen behind”.