Municipal elections in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes defeats Bolsonarism and is re-elected in the first round

Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, centrist eduardo paesHe was re-elected with 60.26% of the votes in the first round this Sunday, according to official results, reaching 93.66% of the votes counted.

54-year-old Paes had the support of the Brazilian President. Luiz Inácio Lula da SilvaAnd this could be the biggest defeat for the former President in these municipal elections jair bolsonaroLeader of the far right and whose candidate came second in Rio.

Bolsonaro, who has his birthplace and stronghold in politics in Rio de Janeiro, has thrown himself into favor Alexandre RamagemWho directed the Brazilian intelligence agency during his government (2019-2022) and is today being investigated for an alleged illegal espionage conspiracy.

Ramagem, who is also a federal representative for the Liberal Party (PL), obtained 30.95% of the vote, despite Bolsonaro and two of the former president’s sons who have built political careers in Rio de Janeiro on his side: Senator Flavio and Councilor Carlos. .

Pace, of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), was mayor of Rio de Janeiro for two consecutive terms (2009-2017) and returned to that post in 2020 to which he was re-elected this Sunday.

His second term coincided with the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games held in 2016 and which he took advantage of to revolutionize the structure of a city that is one of the country’s main postcards.

It revitalized the old port area, promoted modern transportation systems and numerous infrastructure works, as well as strong investment in the education and health sectors, in which it has received financial support from the Lula government during the past year and a half.

Municipal elections were held in 5,569 cities this Sunday. Rio de Janeiro has the second largest electorate

With five crore voters.

However it also involved an investigation into alleged corruption. Paes was accused of taking bribe Favoring certain companies in public tenders for works scheduled for the Olympics. He always pleaded not guilty.

After his two terms ended, Rio fell into a deep economic and security crisis.

During this time, he worked as an advisor for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington and was a director of Chinese automaker BYD after losing an election to the Rio state government in 2018. Amid the rise of Bolsonaro.

But he returned to politics in style. With his victory in the 2020 Rio mayoral election.

Then he defeated the evangelical pastor in the second round Marcelo CrivellaHero of several scams during his tenure.

Returning to power, he decisively backed Lula, whom he had previously condemned, in the 2022 presidential elections, in which the progressive leader defeated far-right Jair Bolsonaro by a slim margin.

A Catholic and admirer of Vasco da Gama, Paes has since taken advantage of his good relationship with the Brazilian president, always joking about his colleague’s ability to get some federal budget allocation for the Rio project.

However, Pace, who grew up in Rio’s elite neighborhoods, finds it ugly that he rules only the prosperous southern part of the city, in the face of a forgotten people, many of whom are still in conflict with paramilitary groups and drug-trafficking gangs. Are controlled by.

(with information from EFE)