What the polls say one week for the local elections in Brazil

Brasil de Fato

The municipal elections in Brazil will begin on October 6. On that date, Brazilians will choose between mayors and councilors who will hold office for the next four years. The polls haven’t fluctuated much since the first numbers were released and the start of the debates between candidates on TV in August.    

Even though the last two debates in São Paulo involved aggression between candidates and staff behind the scenes, the numbers haven’t changed much. The current mayor and right wing candidate for re-election, Ricardo Nunes, remains in the lead with 27% a few days before the vote.   

In second place is the left-wing candidate supported by President Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) Guilherme Boulos, with 25% of the vote, and in third place is a far-right candidate and influencer Pablo Marçal, with 21%.   

In Rio de Janeiro, the re-election of the current mayor, Eduardo Paes, seems practically guaranteed. The left-wing candidate has 57% of the votes.  

In Porto Alegre, one of the cities most affected by the floods that hit the whole state in the first half of the year, the current mayor, right iwng Sebastião Melo, has 36,5% of the voting intentions, followed by leftist Maria do Rosário with 30,1%.  

The scenario repeats itself for the mayoralty of Salvador, in Bahia, with current mayor leftist Bruno Reis leading the polls with 55%.  

Voting is mandatory for people between the ages of 18 and 70; if they don’t, they must justify their absence in the first round of elections. If the candidates win more than half of the valid votes, there is no need for a second round. If this doesn’t happen, Brazilians will return to the polls on October 27 for the second and final round.