By Eduardo Simões and Anthony Boadle
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilians vote for mayors and councilors in more than 5,500 municipal elections on Sunday, and polls show conservative candidates are strong in several major cities, positioning the country’s political landscape ahead of the election. 2026 presidential race.
All eyes are on the mayoral elections in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, where three candidates are competing neck and neck after an aggressive campaign.
Incumbent center-right mayor Ricardo Nunes, who led the race until last week, is tied for second place with 26% of the vote with far-right digital influencer Pablo Marçal, an unprecedented split in the conservative vote, according to a poll on Saturday. .
Leftist Guilherme Boulos, who has the support of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Workers’ Party, advanced on the eve of the elections and leads the field with 29%, according to pollster Datafolha.
Marçal, an anti-establishment political novice who has surged in the polls with his scathing attacks on his adversaries, ran a social media campaign with little funding and no television time. He has dominated the news for three weeks since an angry fifth-place candidate hit him with a chair during a televised debate.
Polls showed that candidates linked to Lula face problems as the president’s popularity has fallen in his third non-consecutive term. He has largely avoided participating in the campaign for mayoral candidates, although his success would boost his chances in 2026, when he is expected to run for re-election.
On the right, candidates associated with far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro have fared better, despite him being banned from running for elected office until 2030 for his baseless attacks on Brazil’s voting system.
“Anti-system opinions on the right have become a trend,” says political risk expert Creomar de Souza.
Lula’s Workers’ Party risks not winning a single state capital, which would be unprecedented since its rise to prominence in the last quarter century, said André César, an analyst at Hold Legislative Advisors.
“Brazil’s political map is being redesigned,” he said.
Both analysts said Lula probably kept his campaign at a minimum to avoid being associated with losing candidates.
Bolsonaro also stayed away from the Sao Paulo campaign, complicating his alliances. He officially endorsed Nunes for re-election, but avoided recording a video for his campaign.
Bolsonaro seemed to distance himself from Nunes while the anti-establishment candidate Marçal went from being a dark horse to being a hair away from the second round in the polls.
Voting begins at 8 am (1100 GMT) and closes at 5 pm (2000 GMT). To win directly in the first round, candidates for mayor of cities of 200,000 inhabitants or more must obtain more than 50% of the valid votes.