1970-01-01 00:00:00
Porto Alegre goes to the polls this Sunday (6) still under the impact of the largest flood in its history, which occurred in May, with little excitement in the streets and the current mayor ahead in the polls.
According to a Quaest poll, published on Saturday (5), Sebastião Melo (MDB) has 50% of valid votes. Maria do Rosário (PT), 26% and Juliana Brizola (PDT), 23%, are technically tied for second place.
The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Quaest interviewed 1,002 people aged 16 and over in Porto Alegre on October 4 and 5. The research was commissioned by RBS TV, an affiliate of TV Globo and was registered at the Electoral Tribunal with protocol RS-01213/2024. The confidence level is 95%.
The possibility of Melo’s re-election occurs in a city where the election does not resonate in the streets. The candidates’ banners in the squares and flowerbeds are more of a reminder that a vote is scheduled for Sunday. Two days of rain last week interrupted the planned walks and dampened the enthusiasm in the final stretch
“Fora Melo” stickers pasted on poles, some with the flood mark still visible, show that the elections will be a near plebiscite on re-election candidate Sebastião Melo’s (MDB) actions to protect the city.
In the latest debate, Thursday (3), federal deputy Maria do Rosário (PT) and former state deputy Juliana Brizola (PDT) cited the shortcomings of the capital’s flood protection system. Both accuse Melo of not having invested enough in prevention throughout his mandate.
The mayor defended the work of his administration and rejected the criticism: he stated that the aid from the Lula government (PT) is insufficient and slow in arriving and invited governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB), who supports Brizola, to begin draining Lake Guaíba.
The emedebista tries to strengthen the image of a man of the people and a worker, having the straw hat as his trademark.
His campaign also insinuates that he is a target of elitism. In a video, Melo said he was proud to be called “chinelão”, a Rio Grande do Sul expression for a vulgar or rude person. The nickname is often used by critics in social media comments.
Maria do Rosário and Juliana Brizola are also competing with each other over who is the most viable alternative against Melo, at a time when useful voting has become a problem in the capital’s left-wing bubbles.
The PT member hopes to attract the electorate who voted for Lula in Porto Alegre in 2022, when Jair Bolsonaro (PL) – who declared support for Melo – by a margin of seven points. The challenge is high rejection.
The candidate is rejected by the conservative electorate and has had difficulty involving sectors of the capital’s left, who question the lack of renewal of the PT’s staff.
Brizola attempts to rerun the state scenario in 2022, when Eduardo Leite reached the second round with a margin of only 2,000 votes for the third-place finisher, Edegar Pretto (PT) and had the PT’s critical support to overturn the result and defeat Bolsonarist Onyx Lorenzoni (PL).
The fourth force of the campaign is the deputy Felipe Camozzato (Novo), who sided with Melo in the debates promoted in the campaign. Also competing are Fabiana Sanguiné (PSTU), Carlos Alan (PRTB), Luciano from MLB (UP) and Cesar Pontes (PCO).
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