São Paulo municipal elections: blackout monopolizes the debate between candidates

Brasil de Fato

On Monday (14) São Paulo mayoral candidates the left-wing Guilherme Boulos and right-winger Ricardo Nunes, running for the second turn, appeared in a debate on Brazilian channel Band TV and exchanged accusations about responsibility for the blackout that hit the city since last Friday (11).  

Boulos blamed the current mayor, Nunes, for the city’s chaos and inefficiency in solving the situation. The storm in São Paulo resulted in 150 fallen trees and almost 200 out-of-service traffic lights. “There are more than 7,000 prunings on the waiting list. It takes over a year to prune all the trees that are in the waiting list in the city,” he warned.  

Boulos also pointed out that a blackout had already occurred in the city in 2023, and the municipal administration had not done anything consistent to prevent another tragedy.  

The candidate for re-election, which has the support of former president Jair Bolsonaro, put the responsibility on Enel, the Italian company that distributes electricity in São Paulo, which replaced Brazilian power distributor AES Eletropaulo during privatization process in 2018.  

Nunes also blamed Brazil’s Electricity Agency (Aneel, in Portuguese), for monitoring, imposing fines, and eventually breaking the contract with the company. He pointed out that three lawsuits were filed after the blackout a year ago for the contract to be terminated, but there was no action from the federal government. “We can no longer accept Enel in São Paulo,” he said. Nunes’ political mentor, governor Tarcísio de Freitas, also an ally of Bolsonaro, supported the privatization of electricity in São Paulo.  

After that, Boulos countered that the current head of Aneel was appointed by Bolsonaro. “To remove Enel from São Paulo, we need a strong-willed mayor—not a hesitant one,” said the left-wing candidate, adding that during last year’s blackout, the mayor was in the UFC box. He also pointed out that Friday’s windstorm lasted an hour and left more people without electricity than in Florida, in the United States, with Hurricane Milton.  

The São Paulo Metropolitan Region currently has around 400,000 properties still without power. This situation has persisted for over 90 hours. The less than hour long storm last Friday has claimed the lives of seven people.  

A challenge about opening bank secrecy  

Guilherme Boulos proposed to the mayor that they open their bank secrecy to the public, raising the suspicion that Ricardo Nunes has received undue funds.  

“You open up your bank secrecy to us so it’s clear. We can make this deal here today in the debate. My accounts are a matter of transparency,” he stated. Nunes claimed, in response, that his accounts were already open, but did not commit to Boulos’ proposal.  

The requests to open the bank details were accompanied by accusations of links to the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital or Capital’s First Command, in a rough translation), a Brazilian organized crime syndicate, and investigations into the alleged embezzlement of funds from São Paulo’s daycare centers during Nunes’ administration.  

According to a poll released on Thursday (10), Ricardo Nunes has 55% of the vote, while Guilherme Boulos has 33%. This significant difference is due to the current mayor’s securing around 69% of the electorate’s votes from the far-right candidate Pablo Marçal, who, in turn, did not state his support for Nunes and even declared, “I’m sure Boulos will win.”  

In the first round, on October 6, Nunes had 29.48% of the valid votes, and Boulos came very close, with 29.07%.