RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilians began voting Sunday in the first round of local elections for mayors, deputy mayors and councilors in the country’s 5,569 municipalities.
In Sao Paulo, three mayoral candidates are running neck-and-neck, including incumbent Ricardo Nunes, left-wing MP Guilherme Boulos and self-help guru turned far-right politician Pablo Marçal. A second round is scheduled for October 27.
Much of the attention in the run-up to Sunday’s vote has been on Brazil’s largest city, where the race was marred by episodes of violence involving Marçal.
Last month, José Luiz Datena, a former TV presenter turned candidate, hit Marçal with a metal chair during a televised debate after references to allegations of sexual misconduct. In a later debate, a Marçal assistant punched an opponent’s counterpart, resulting in a bloody face.
Marçal sparked more controversy on Friday when he published a falsified medical report on social media showing Boulos was taking cocaine. The document was widely debunked by local media who pointed out inconsistencies, including the fact that it was signed by a deceased doctor.
Boulos, a longtime campaigner for housing rights and backed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, vehemently denied the document’s veracity. On Saturday, a judge at the Sao Paulo Electoral Court ordered the suspension of Marçal’s Instagram account for 48 hours, ruling that there are “indications of several violations of the electoral law.”
Part of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s political base is attracted to Marçal, captivated by his fiery rhetoric, although the far-right leader is backing Nunes.
In Rio de Janeiro, incumbent Eduardo Paes hopes to avoid a second round. Until recently, polls showed that this was possible. But his main challenger Alexandre Ramagem has steadily risen in the polls in recent weeks, leaving the outcome of Sunday’s vote uncertain.
Ramagem, the former head of Brazil’s intelligence service under Bolsonaro, is being investigated as part of a broader investigation into alleged espionage of political opponents. He has denied the allegations.
Bolsonaro is backing Ramagem, and his rise in the polls is widely attributed to the campaign the former president is running on his behalf.
More than 155 million Brazilians are eligible to vote. Forty-three percent of the electorate is in the southeastern region, where Rio and Sao Paulo are located. Women make up about 52% of voters.
Nearly 1,000 transgender politicians are running in each of Brazil’s 26 states on Sunday, according to the country’s electoral court, which is tracking them for the first time. The number of candidacies has tripled since the last local elections four years ago, when trans rights organization Antra mapped them.
Polling stations opened at 8am Brasilia time and closed at 5pm (2000 GMT).
In municipalities with more than 200,000 registered voters, a second round will take place if none of the mayoral candidates obtains an absolute majority.
