Latest poll in São Paulo’s mayoral race shows huge advantage for right wing candidate

Brasil de Fato

According to a Datafolha Institute poll released on Thursday (17), right-winger Mayor Ricardo Nunes, running for reelection, has 51% of voting intentions for the second round of the São Paulo ellection that will take place on Sunday 26 of October. His rival, the left-wing candidate supported by President Lula (Workers’ Party) Guilherme Boulos has 33%.   

This is the first poll since the city’s blackout crisis, affecting several areas and leaving the population without power. Throughout the week, the candidates used the topic in exchanges of accusations about responsibility for how to solve the chaos, which still has hundreds of fallen trees and burned-out traffic lights in São Paulo. 

But the polls results show that the blackout had little impact on the voters with no candidates capitalizing on it. 

A debate without a mayor again   

Ahead in the polls, the right wing mayor can afford to avoid dabating with Boulos. He skipped a shedulled one for Thrusday morning and seems unafased by the calls that he is running away. This is not the first time that Nunes has canceled his participation in debates and given his absence, the event’s organizers decided to interview Boulos, who answered the questions on his own.    

The blackout crisis in São Paulo has affected several essential services and caused significant disruption to the population’s routine. Last Friday (11), a storm with winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour damaged areas served by Enel, the company responsible for power distribution. Around 3.1 million customers were left without electricity. According to the utility, approximately 36,000 residents were still without power at 8 am on Thursday.   

The situation São Paulo is facing became a campaign issue between Boulos and Nunes in the last debate on Monday (11). The mayor blames the italian company Enel that provides energy in the country and the federal government for the power outage. For his part, Boulos points to the current municipal administration and Enel’s inertia. The company has been responsible for the service since it won the privatization process in 2018, replacing Brazilian power distributor AES Eletropaulo. Governor Tarcísio de Freitas strongly supported the action back then. 

During the first round, on October 6, Nunes had 29.48% of the valid votes, just over 1.8 million. Boulos came very close, with the preference of 1.77 million voters, representing 29.07%.