SAO PAULO (AP) — Voters in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, went to the polls Sunday in a mayoral race pitting incumbent Mayor Ricardo Nunes against left-wing lawmaker Guilherme Boulos.
Nunes has received lukewarm support from former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, while Boulos is an ally of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Several polls released Saturday showed Nunes, who inherited the mayoralty after Bruno Covas died of cancer in 2021, as the favorite to win. His advantage against Boulos is greater than the margin of error of the Datafolha and Quaest polls.
Boulos, in a last-ditch effort to gain notoriety, accepted on Friday an invitation to a debate on the self-help guru turned far-right politician Pablo Marçal, who finished third in the first round of voting on October 7. At the end of the debate Marçal urged his voters not to vote on Sunday. Lower turnout could work against Nunes.
Most of the attention during this year’s municipal elections in Brazil has been on Sao Paulo, where the race was marred by episodes of violence involving Marçal in the first round of voting. Boulos, a longtime advocate for housing for the poor, has been campaigning nonstop to avoid his second straight defeat in the race.
Other Brazilian cities with more than 200,000 registered voters also hold mayoral elections.
In Rio de Janeiro, incumbent mayor Eduardo Paes was re-elected for his fourth, non-consecutive term in the first round of voting. Paes, an avid Carnival fan, had Lula’s support but focused his campaign on local issues against Bolsonaro’s candidate, Alexandre Ramagem.
Brazilians will also be closely watching the results in Belo Horizonte, one of the country’s largest cities, where polls suggest Mayor Fuad Noman faces a close race with pro-Bolsonaro candidate Bruno Engler.
The vote in Fortaleza, another of the country’s largest cities, is a dead heat between Lula’s Workers’ Party candidate Evandro Leitão and pro-Bolsonaro challenger André Fernandes.
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