States governed by all ideological spectrums face a problematic scenario in an issue that promises to be central in the 2026 elections: public security. The area became a target after Rio de Janeiro.
Federation units under the command of the left, right and center are both on the list of places with the most violent deaths and the worst competitiveness in the security pillar, according to recent classifications.
A is often identified in research.
For experts, Operation Containment highlighted the need for right and left positions on the issue.
After the action, right-wing governors attacked Lula’s (PT) performance on the issue and that it had not taken off when the agenda was amnesty for Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The government accused the opposition of and, after a week without emphatic condemnation of what happened, the president spoke of “killing” and a “disastrous” operation.
For experts, no ideological spectrum has done what it should when dealing with the issue.
Of the ten states with the worst public security indices in the 2025 State Competitiveness Ranking, by the CLP (Public Leadership Center), four are governed by left-wing politicians, four by centrist parties and two by right-wing parties.
The classification regarding the ideological spectrum was made according to the . The survey considered, in the case of Tocantins, the Republicans of Wanderlei Barbosa, removed in September, and, in the case of Maranhão, the PSB to which Carlos Brandão was affiliated until September — currently he
The CLP classification takes into account several indicators, such as personal safety, property security and deaths to be clarified. It uses as a basis the most recent complete data from bodies such as DataSUS, , and the Brazilian Public Security Forum.
As for the geographic region, three states with the worst rates are in the North, four in the Northeast, two in the Central-West and one in the Southeast.
The three worst are, in this order, , governed by Clécio Luis (), , whose governor is Antonio Denarium (), and Bahia, owned by the PT member .
In the case of intentional violent deaths, the classification takes into account that of 2025, which contains data from the previous year.
In this regard, the ten worst positions are distributed almost homogeneously across political spectrums: four in the center, three on the left and three on the right. The rate considers components such as robbery, deaths due to police intervention and intentional homicides.
The cases are concentrated in the Northeast, with five occurrences, and in the North, with four. The other region represented is the Central-West, with , by governor Mauro Mendes ().
Leading both surveys, Clécio Luis’s Amapá —whose party, Solidariedade, is classified by the GPS as centrist—is facing challenges with robberies, sexual violence and violence. The rate of intentional violent deaths is 45.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, more than double the national rate, which stands at 20.8.
Clécio was elected in a coalition that brought together parties that went from the PDT to the PL of former president Jair Bolsonaro. He presents himself as being center-left and, on social media, praises the president (), minister Flávio Dino, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), and , senator from Amapá and leader of the government in Congress.
Bahia, on the other hand, occupies the lead in absolute numbers of deaths from , with one of every four violent deaths caused by agents of the State. The confrontation between factions worsens the region’s indicator, which could act as a window for the PT and the left in the electoral debate on security.
Soon after Operation Containment in Rio, Jerônimo was the target of criticism from (União Brasil), governor of Goiás, who joined other right-wing politicians to coordinate actions to combat organized crime. Remembering that Bahia is the champion in rates of police violence, Caiado .
After that, Jerônimo defended the Lula government’s public security PEC and in the debate on security.
A representative of the right with the worst rates of violence is Mato Grosso, by Mauro Mendes (União Brasil). According to the CLP ranking, the state faces high rates of feminicide, sexual violence and traffic deaths, in addition to a high proportion of prisoners without conviction.
Mendes joined the right-wing politicians who congratulated Castro on last week’s action. He called criminal factions terrorists and said Congress needs to “tighten the laws to put a brake on this [violência]”. Rio de Janeiro ranks 15th in the rate of violent deaths and 13th among the states with the worst safety rates.
For Rafael Alcadipani da Silveira, professor of public security at EAESP-FGV, São Paulo School of Business Administration at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, all political spectrums have presented flawed proposals to combat violence.
“Typically public security is an agenda completely neglected by the left, which leaves the police to think about politics [de segurança]while the right has a ‘shot, beating and bomb’ type of vision.”
For him, both perspectives are inadequate, and governments need to present proposals based on studies and scientific evidence. Silveira states that security rankings point to a concentration of the problem in the North and Northeast due to social and economic inequalities.
According to Pedro Trippi, intelligence coordinator at the CLP, violence is a challenge that permeates all ideologies. He talks about the need for data-driven policing and actions that go beyond partisan political issues.
“The politician can have his ideological vision, A or B, but I would say that all 27 governors in Brazil have challenges. The national challenge goes beyond ideological issues and must be faced with pragmatism.”
