Boulos, Salles and Tabata: federal mandate is a showcase for SP – 05/01/2023 – Politics

The three main names quoted to rival re-election candidate Ricardo Nunes (MDB) in the dispute for São Paulo City Hall differ in many points, except in one: they are all federal deputies.

Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), Ricardo Salles (PL) and Tabata Amaral (PSB) have the mandate as an asset —both for exposure and for actions that may serve the eventual campaign. They won, respectively, the first, fourth and sixth highest votes among candidates in the state.

The portrait that came out of the ballot boxes in the capital of São Paulo in 2022 gives indications of the profile of the electorate and the challenges of the trio for 2024. Sheet show that Boulos’ votes were more distributed in the territory, Salles had peaks in noble regions and Tabata’s density was higher in rich areas.

Issues specific to the capital are frequent on the agendas and social networks of the three parliamentarians. They also criticize the Nunes administration, go to court against the mayor’s measures and speak about the city in the Congressional gallery.

Boulos has already used the microphone to attack Nunes for removing tents from the street population. In his speech, the coordinator of housing movements justified himself for taking an issue from São Paulo to the Chamber, saying that this “is not a local debate” because other cities in the country have a similar situation.

The psolist also spoke out against the privatization of Congonhas airport and regretted that São Paulo maintains sanitary landfills to the detriment of more modern solutions for waste.

Salles made reference to “my city of São Paulo” when commenting on cracolândia and defending compulsory hospitalization. “It’s a case of law and order in the city of São Paulo, which is in dire need of this,” said former Minister of the Environment in the Jair Bolsonaro government (PL).

Tabata used her first speech of her second term to declare herself “proudly from São Paulo” and sprinkle mentions to Avenida Paulista and the neighborhood in the south zone where she grew up, Vila Missionária, “where bad politics, like vote buying, still prevails “, he stated.

Raising her main flag, that of education, she reflected in the plenary session the attack on a school in the west zone of São Paulo that killed a teacher and injured five other people.

Tabata also intensified the strategy of triggering the justice system against Nunes’ measures, a mechanism also adopted by Boulos to harass his rival.

The pessebist filed lawsuits against an advertising notice of R$ 80 million opened by the city hall and the contracting of communication services for R$ 20 million a few months before the election campaign.

The leader of the MTST (Movement of Homeless Workers) went to the Public Ministry against the outsourcing of inspection of bus terminals and headed a court order against the removal of tents for homeless people. Nunes reacted, associating the offensive with the author’s electoral intentions.

Salles, in turn, ended up being summoned by the mayor, after he said he wanted to run to remove “the thieves” from city hall. The Comptroller General and the Attorney General of the Municipality charged the deputy to report what he knows about alleged corruption schemes.

The search for connection with the population of São Paulo is crucial in the attempt of the three to keep voters and attract new ones. Boulos, Salles and Tabata received more votes in the rest of the state than in the capital, according to data from the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) tabulated by Sheet.

The former minister garnered only 27% of his votes in the capital, but was driven by the interior, with emphasis on strongholds of agribusiness and conservatism, such as Barretos and Araçatuba.

Considering the results only in the city of São Paulo, some differences are evident.

The name of PSOL had a more heterogeneous vote in relation to income by district, with a positive performance both in poor areas such as Capão Redondo (south zone) and in middle-income areas, such as Campo Limpo (also in the south zone) of Santa Cecília (region central).

The capillarity may be linked to the fact that Boulos ran for mayor in 2020, when he reached the second round against Bruno Covas (PSDB) and lost, with 40.6% of the valid votes, against 59.3% of the toucan.

Support for Salles was concentrated in more affluent districts, such as Itaim Bibi (south zone). Interestingly, the Itaim region also gave an expressive vote to Tabata, an opponent of Bolsonarism.

The advantage for the pesebist is that her electoral base includes poorer neighborhoods. A report from her team shows that, compared to the 2018 campaign, her vote grew by around 25% in all regions of the city, including on the fringes of the east side.

According to political scientist Bruno Schaefer, from the Brazilian Legislative Observatory, the vote of the three for the Chamber provides clues of strengths and weaknesses, but the municipal election has another dynamic, since local urgencies are relevant for the voter.

“At the same time, elections are increasingly nationalized, as we saw in 2020”, he ponders.

The Chamber’s visibility, however, can be useful for campaigns. Boulos tried to take over the MP’s rapporteur for Minha Casa, Minha Vida, but ended up having to give up the post to attend to an articulation from Planalto. Salles is the favorite to assume the rapporteurship of the MST’s CPI.

Sought, the three parliamentarians said in general terms, via advisory, that they are focused on the current mandates and that electoral strategies will be discussed later.

Boulos highlighted his work on the agendas of the homeless population, the loss of income for the poorest and the difficulties of the periphery and mentioned project reports and participation in commissions.

“Even because it has more than a quarter of the state’s population and a large share of GDP, it is natural that São Paulo has a prominent place in the political process of any congressman from the capital. Besides, I was born and raised in São Paulo, I live in Campo Limpo,” he said.

Salles stated that he has been discussing issues of interest to the municipalities in the Chamber, such as the framework for sanitation and garbage disposal, but added that he works “without distinguishing or privileging” any city. “The difference is that, due to its size, in the capital of São Paulo everything has a larger proportion.”

For the PL deputy, the current term “does help” his likely candidacy for mayor, and the fact that he was the fourth most voted deputy in the state “naturally projects” his name into the dispute.

Tabata stated that her political life is directly linked to her experience as a resident of the outskirts of São Paulo and that, therefore, she works for more equal opportunities for citizens not only of the capital, but of the entire state.

“We have projects that are nationwide in scope, but that directly impact people on the edge, on the periphery. My work impacts the entire country. Many of the problems we experience here [em São Paulo] are problems elsewhere as well,” she said.