Brazil votes in local elections with eyes on 2026 presidential showdown
By Eduardo Simões and Anthony Boadle
SAO PAULO, Oct 6 (Reuters) -Brazilians vote on Sunday for mayors and city councilors in more than 5,500 municipal elections, with polls showing conservative candidates running strong in several major cities, setting the country's political landscape ahead of a 2026 presidential race.
All eyes are on the election for mayor of Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, where three candidates are running neck-and-neck after an aggressive campaign.
Center-right incumbent Mayor Ricardo Nunes, who led the race until last week, is tied for second place at 26% of the votes with far-right digital influencer Pablo Marçal, an unprecedented split in the conservative vote, according to a poll on Saturday.
Leftist Guilherme Boulos, who is supported by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Workers Party, has edged forward on the eve of the election and is leading the field with 29%, pollster Datafolha found.
Marçal, an anti-establishment political novice who has surged in the polls with his vitriolic attacks on adversaries, ran a social media campaign with little funding and no TV time. He has headlined the news for three weeks since a furious fifth-placed candidate hit him with a chair during a televised debate.
Polls showed that candidates linked to Lula are facing trouble as the president's popularity has slipped in his third non-consecutive term. He has largely avoided taking to the campaign trail for mayoral candidates, although their success would boost his chances in 2026, when he is expected to run for re-election.
On the right, candidates associated with hard-right former President Jair Bolsonaro have fared better, even though he was banned from seeking elected office until 2030 for his unfounded attacks on Brazil's voting system.
"The anti-establishment views of the right have become the trend," said political risk expert Creomar de Souza.
Lula's Workers Party is at risk of not winning a single state capital, which would be unprecedented since its rise to prominence in the past quarter century, said Andre Cesar, analyst at Hold Legislative Advisors.
"Brazil's political map is being redrawn," he said.
Both analysts said Lula likely kept his campaigning to a minimum to avoid being associated with losing candidates.
Bolsonaro also stayed away from the Sao Paulo campaign, which complicated his alliances. He officially endorsed Nunes for re-election, but avoided recording a video for his campaign.
Bolsonaro appeared to distance himself from Nunes as the anti-establishment candidate Marçal grew in the polls from a dark horse to within a whisker of the runoff.
Voting starts at 8 a.m. (1100 GMT) and closes at 5 p.m. (2000 GMT). To win outright in the first round, candidates for mayor of cities of 200,000 inhabitants or more need to gain more than 50% of valid votes.
Reporting by Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; editing by Diane Craft
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
