PL and PT bet on deputies to run for mayor in the elections

The Liberal Party and the Workers’ Party will use part of their benches in the Chamber of Deputies to promote the municipal elections in October this year. The party of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) plans to launch ten deputies running for mayor. The party of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) is considering launching 16 names for municipal executives. The numbers were confirmed with advisors from both parties.

It is important to highlight that the list of names of each party may undergo changes, since not all potential candidates were in the race, nor were all party conferences held. The possibility of some pre-candidacies not going ahead is also assessed by the parties. With local negotiations, parties can make agreements that involve withdrawing their candidacy in favor of political support.

In the case of the opposition, names such as deputies Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ) and Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ) emerge as PL exponents in Niterói and the city of Rio de Janeiro. Despite recent operations by the Federal Police, the party demonstrates that it will maintain the pre-candidacies of parliamentarians.

Given this, the PL will follow the strategy of using already consolidated party names to try to increase the number of mayors of the party. With 371 city halls across the country, the party wants to elect between 1000 and 1500 mayors. The objective is to create political muscle for the future candidate for President of the Republic in 2026.

For political scientist Adriano Cerqueira, a professor at Ibmec in Belo Horizonte, the use of well-known names is part of the electoral dynamics of parties for municipal elections.

“It is common for deputies, who have a certain presence, to contest elections for mayors. There is a path that tends to be more logical: councilor, state deputy, federal deputy. But there are deputies who see an opportunity to contest the municipal election. They are generally well-known names within the party. Many do this to establish their presence in a certain municipality with a view to the next elections”, said Cerqueira.

Parliamentary candidacy involves personal political project

But why do parties choose federal deputies? The process of choosing party candidacies involves several factors, such as the popularity of the pre-candidate and the real possibility of election. By using parliamentarians from the Chamber of Deputies, the acronyms have more possibilities of consolidating themselves in already captivated electoral strongholds. On the other hand, parliamentarians benefit from gaining electoral prospection, being able to increase their own political capital for the general elections.

According to political scientist Elton Gomes, professor at the Federal University of Piauí, the political project of the deputies is essential in the negotiation of candidacies supported by the parties.

“I think that the preponderant factor when talking about party candidacy is the candidate’s personal project. He himself seeks a certain level of power and influence, of relevance in the national political scene. Generally, the politicians who manage to do this are robust politicians, those who are important within the party’s own governing structure, its leadership or who are themselves rising figures within the party hierarchy”, said Gomes.

He adds that the movement of deputies to the municipal Executive also facilitates the transfer of parliamentary amendments intended for city halls.

“What happens when a parliamentarian becomes mayor? He, having been a parliamentarian, knows the way to generate budget amendments that are addressed directly to city halls. He knows the way, he is aware of the institutional shortcuts that promote this. In his place, in Chamber of Deputies, his substitute will remain, who will be in charge of contributing resources to this city hall that he will govern”, said the professor.

Check the list of pre-candidates for both parties:

PL

Sergeant Gonçalves – Natal (RN)
Fernando Rodolfo – Caruaru (PE)
Captain Augusto – Bauru (SP)
Rosana Valle – Santos (SP)
Delegate Ramagem – Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
André Fernandes – Fortaleza (CE)
Gustavo Gayer – Goiânia (GO)
Marcos Pollon – Campo Grande (MS)
Abílio Brunini – Cuiabá (MT)
Rosângela Reis – Ipatinga (MG)
Carlos Jordy – Niterói (RJ)
Captain Alden – Feira de Santana (BA)
Delegate Éder Mauro – Belém (BA)
Junio ​​Amaral – Contagem (MG)
Júnior Mano – Maracanaú (CE)
Bruno Engler – Belo Horizonte (MG)

PT

Alencar Santana – Guarulhos (SP)
Denise Pessôa – Caxias do Sul (RS)
Dimas Gadelha – São Gonçalo (RJ)
Maria do Rosário – Porto Alegre (RS)
Rogério Correia – Belo Horizonte (MG)
Waldenor Pereira – Vitória da Conquista (BA)
Washington Quaquá – Maricá (RJ)
Adriana Accorsi – Goiânia (GO)
Natália Bonavides – Natal (RN)
Zé Neto – Feira de Santana (BA)

So far, of the 26 capitals, PT and PL parliamentarians must face each other directly in at least three: Goiania, Belo Horizonte and Natal. In the capital of Goiás, deputy Adriana Corsi (PT) and deputy Gustavo Gayer (PL) are two of the candidates for the position of mayor. In the capital of Minas Gerais, Rogério Correia (PT) and Bruno Engler (PL) are among the competitors. And in the capital of Rio Grande do Norte, Natalia Bonavides (PT) and General Girão (PL) among the pre-candidates for the municipal Executive.

PT seeks to recover 2020 electoral disaster

On the PT side, the party led by Gleisi Hoffmann will also use renowned names from the party in an attempt to boost the number of city halls. In November last year, for example, federal deputy Maria do Rosário (PT-RS) was confirmed as a pre-candidate for the municipal executive of Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul. The parliamentarian, who today commands the 1st Secretariat of the Chamber, became popular due to his clashes with Bolsonaro.

In the 2020 elections, the PT experienced an unexpected scenario: it elected 182 mayors, but did not conquer any capital. The party launched its own candidacies in 21 of the 26 capitals in dispute and only managed to go to the second round in two cities: Recife, with Marília Arraes, who ended up defeated by her cousin João Campos (PSB), and Vitória, with João Coser, defeated by Lorenzo Pazolini (Republicans).

In some cities, performance was worse. In Curitiba, Paulo Opuszka received 2% of the votes, the same number as Nilmário Miranda, in Belo Horizonte and Ricardo Barbosa, in Maceió. Professor Marcos, in Macapá and Anísio Maia, in João Pessoa, reached 1% of the votes.

The acronym has gained another 45 mayors in recent years and now has 227 municipalities for the next election. On the other hand, the result of the next elections worries the party, which was forced to hand over candidacies to allied parties.

In the city of São Paulo, Lula will support federal deputy Guilherme Boulos (PSOL-SP) in the race for mayor. In the city of Rio de Janeiro, the party is working to nominate a vice-mayor on the Eduardo Paes (PSD-RJ) ticket.

The situation also occurs in the Northeast, PT’s main electoral stronghold. In Recife, the PT must support the re-election of João Campos (PSB) to the local Executive.

Polarization will be the focus of elections in Rio and SP

In addition to the federal deputies, PT and PL must bet on the polarization registered in 2022 to conduct the 2024 candidacies. In Rio, the strategy of the party led by Valdemar Costa Neto is to explore the relationship between Eduardo Paes and the PT to leverage the anti- Lula in the Rio electorate. The possibility of the mayor of Rio having a deputy in the PT is another factor that instigates the intensification of the dispute.

The PL’s strategy of betting on polarization with the PT follows in the wake of the electoral results of the 2022 second round of Lula and Bolsonaro in the capital of Rio de Janeiro. At the time, the former president received 1,929,209 votes, equivalent to 52.66% of the city’s total. Lula was the choice of 47.34% of voters and received 1,734,159 votes.

In São Paulo, the PT, through Boulos’ candidacy, should try to paste the image of the current mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), to the image of Bolsonaro as a way of attracting voters in the center of the capital of São Paulo. Unlike Rio, the 2022 electoral numbers gave an advantage to the left in the capital of São Paulo.

In the city of São Paulo, Lula obtained 3,677,921 votes, which corresponds to 53.54% of the valid votes. Bolsonaro obtained 3,191,484 votes, which represents 46.46% of the valid votes.