The race for Sao Paulo mayor is heading to a runoff without a controversial outsider in Brazil’s elections

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Incumbent Ricardo Nunes and leftist lawmaker Guilherme Boulos will face off in a runoff to become Sao Paulo’s next mayor after a first round of voting Sunday in Brazil’s local elections.

Nunes, Boulos and self-help guru-turned-right-wing extremist politician Pablo Marçal were neck-and-neck ahead of Sunday’s vote. Marçal narrowly missed out on a place in the second round, scheduled for October 27th.

A lot of attention was drawn in the run-up to Sunday’s vote Brazil is the largest city in the country where the race has been marred by violent episodes involving Marçal.

Last month, José Luiz Dataa, a former television host turned candidate, hit Marçal with a metal chair during a television debate following evidence of allegations of sexual misconduct. In a later debate, an aide to Marçal punched an opponent’s counterpart, resulting in a bloody face.

Marçal sparked further controversy on Friday when he posted a fake medical report on social media that suggested Boulos had taken cocaine. The document was widely debunked by local media and pointed out discrepancies, including the fact that it was signed by a deceased doctor.

Boulos, a 42-year-old longtime housing rights activist backed by the president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvavehemently denied the veracity of the document. On Saturday, a judge at Sao Paulo’s electoral court ordered the suspension of Marçal’s Instagram account for 48 hours, noting that there was “evidence of various violations of electoral law.”

Some former presidents Jair Bolsonaro Marçal’s political base is attracted to Marçal and is enthusiastic about his fiery rhetoric, even though the far-right leader supports Nunes.

In Rio de Janeiro, incumbent mayor Eduardo Paes was re-elected for a fourth non-consecutive term after receiving an absolute majority of votes in the first round.

paes, an avid carnival fan who had Lula’s support, easily fended off his main challenger, Alexandre Ramagem, the former head of Brazilian intelligence under Bolsonaro. Ramagem is being investigated as part of a broader investigation into alleged spying on political opponents. He has denied the allegations.

Bolsonaro supported Ramagem, and his slight rise in the polls in recent weeks was largely attributed to the former president campaigning on his behalf. But in the end it proved inadequate.

Bolsonaro’s failure to get Ramagem into the runoff is a setback for the former president who built his career in Rio.

“It shows that Bolsonaro is no longer able to push through candidates like in previous elections,” said Manoel Galdino, a political scientist at the University of Sao Paulo.

But the bad news was tempered by the re-election of Bolsonaro’s son Carlos to the Rio municipal assembly, where he received more votes than any other city councilor.

Brazilians cast their votes to choose the next mayors, deputy mayors and city councilors in the country’s 5,569 municipalities.

More than 155 million Brazilians are eligible to vote, 52 percent of whom are women. 43 percent of voters live in the southeastern region, where Rio and Sao Paulo are located.

Almost 1,000 Transgender politicians A demonstration took place in each of Brazil’s 26 states on Sunday, according to the country’s electoral court, which prosecuted them for the first time. The number of candidates has tripled since the last local elections four years ago, when they were captured by the trans rights group Antra.

In municipalities with more than 200,000 registered voters where, as in Sao Paulo, none of the mayoral candidates achieved an absolute majority, a second round of voting takes place.

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