Apart from the national polarization that has been consolidated in the last two presidential elections, 52 of the 5,559 mayors who will take office in January will carry the mark of the improbable into their administrations. They emerged victorious from the polls anchored by coalitions that include both the president and the former president.
The scenario is even more unusual in nine cities. In one of them, a PT mayor won the polls with the support of the PL. In the other eight, PL candidates were elected with the official support of PT members.
“I have my political position, but I am flexible. I don’t bring the national conflict to my municipality”, summarizes Leo Cunha, 61, re-elected mayor of Estreito, a city of 33 thousand inhabitants in the interior of Maranhão.
He will be the only mayor in Brazil elected by the PL who will have a deputy mayor affiliated with the PT, Professor Irenilde, 54.
Leo Cunha is a businessman, farmer and was a state deputy for Maranhão from 2011 to 2019. The following year, he ran for Mayor of Estreito for the PL, which at the time was not yet the party with the support of PT members.
In the 2022 elections, he promoted a heterodox arrangement by supporting Bolsonaro for president, Carlos Brandão (PSB) for governor and, now minister of the (Supreme Federal Court), for the Senate, also for the PSB.
When this year’s elections approached, Leo Cunha sought state command of the party and was authorized to maintain alliances with left-wing parties.
“The PT has always been part of my government and we remain united in 2024. That’s why there was no strangeness. Here, it’s not the party that makes the vote, it’s the people who make the vote”, says the re-elected mayor.
It was not an isolated case in Maranhão: the state had a total of 13 candidates who were elected supported by PT and Bolsonar members, a record in the country. Among them is Thâmara Castro (PT), mayor elected with the PL in its coalition in the city of Brejo (321 km from ).
The two parties were also together in the victorious campaign of Dr. Julinho (Podemos) for the City Hall of São José de Ribamar, the third largest city in Maranhão with 244 thousand inhabitants.
The state also featured in the only ticket that united PT and PL in a capital, led by federal deputy Duarte Júnior (PSB) in São Luís. Even with a wide range of alliances, he ended up being defeated in the first round by mayor Eduardo Braide ( PSD), re-elected in the capital of Maranhão.
Given the political arrangement, Bolsonaro and his sons announced their support for state deputy Yglésio Moyses (PRTB), who finished only in third place.
The main architect of the alliances is the state president of the PL, federal deputy Josimar Maranhãozinho. He has been a member of the party since before Bolsonaro arrived and managed to have the autonomy to establish partnerships that were convenient for his political project.
In this year’s election, the PL won 40 city halls in Maranhão, being the party that won the most in the state. The result represents almost half of the mayors elected by the party across the Northeast.
The ideological profile of those elected, however, is pragmatic. The majority did not address customs issues or other topics in their campaigns that are a priority among the most radical Bolsonarists.
Josimar Maranhãozinho states that he maintained the alliances made in the municipalities with the approval of the party’s national president, . In the case of new candidates, in cities where the party did not govern, the advice was not to form partnerships with the left.
“I couldn’t mess up the re-election of a mayor by vetoing alliances in the municipalities. I asked Valdemar if we could keep it, and he allowed it,” said Josimar in an interview with Sheet.
Even allied with Bolsonaro nationally, Josimar supported senator Weverton Rocha (PDT), a supporter of Lula, for the Government of Maranhão in 2022. He says he has a good relationship with Carlos Brandão, but his party is not part of the governor’s base, remaining independent.
Outside of Maranhão, PL mayoral candidates were elected in coalitions with the PT in the cities of Três Barras do Paraná (PR), Areia Branca (SE) and Itabaiana (SE).
The third largest city in Sergipe, with 103 thousand inhabitants, Itabaiana elected Valmir de Francisquinho (PL), who entered the campaign anchored by a ticket that united conservative parties, such as the PT and PC do B.
According to federal deputy João Daniel, president of PT-SE, support for Valmir was due to the good relationship with the current mayor of Itabaiana, Adailton Sousa (PL).
“It was a local decision, respected by state deputies. We did not communicate it to the national leadership,” he said.
In 2022, Valmir ran for the Government of Sergipe as favorite, but his candidacy was blocked by the Electoral Court. In the second round, he supported PT senator Rogério Carvalho, who ended up defeated by the current party (PSD).
