Brazilian Tarcisio de Freitas, candidate for governor of Sao Paulo, speaks during a press conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on October 17, 2022. - The candidate for governor of Sao Paulo supported by Jair Bolsonaro, Tarcisio de Freitas, had to interrupt a campaign activity on October 17, 2022, in one of the favelas in Paraisopolis, in southern Sao Paulo due to a shooting, which authorities were trying to determine whether or not it was directed against him.
(Photo by Miguel Schincariol / AFP)MIGUEL SCHINCARIOL (AFP)
Lula da Silva, the next president of Brazil, will have a strong regional counterweight.
Of the 27 states in the country, most will be in the hands of conservative governors, although not necessarily Bolsonaristas.
The State of São Paulo, economic engine of the country and home to more than 46 million Brazilians, will be governed by the former Minister of Infrastructures of Bolsonaro Tarcísio de Freitas.
The most populated region of Brazil has always been in the hands of the moderate right, but now it is turning the screw one more time and throwing itself into the arms of Bolsonarism.
Former minister Fernando Haddad, Lula's last-minute substitute in the elections four years ago and former mayor of São Paulo, achieved the best historical result of the Workers' Party (PT) in this hostile region, but it was not enough.
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Despite the success in São Paulo, Bolsonaro's strategy of handing out strong names in his government to consolidate regional power has only partially worked.
The right predominates, but it is not necessarily Bolsonarista.
In another important state, Rio Grande do Sul, former minister Onyx Lorenzoni, who started as the favorite, was defeated by current governor Eduardo Leite, a young gay politician who last year even attempted a presidential candidacy.
Leite belongs to the PSDB, which for much of Brazil's recent history was the main center-right party.
Although it is no longer what it used to be, the party is not completely dead and will govern three states: Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul and Pernambuco.
It is a right with which Lula will not have so many difficulties in dialogue.
The victory in Pernambuco is especially curious.
Raquel Lyra will be a conservative governor in Lula's home state and in the middle of the country's most progressive region, the northeast.
The future president spent the campaign refusing to say who she would vote for in the second round for fear of losing votes, which her opponents identified as support for Bolsonaro.
Her rival was another woman, Marilia Arraes, a rarity in a markedly male election.
Personally, Lyra had to face a very difficult campaign: on the day of the first round of voting, her 44-year-old husband died suddenly.
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Results of the elections in Brazil 2022, live
For the PT, one of the few unqualified wins came from the state of Bahia.
The well-known mayor of Salvador, ACM Neto, of the center-right, was about to achieve the historic milestone of snatching one of his strongholds from the left, but in the end the candidate supported by Lula, Jerônimo Rodrigues, prevailed.
The future governor of
Bahia
began the electoral campaign as an absolute unknown, but grew thanks to the support of Lula and some verbal stumbles from ACM Neto, a light-skinned man who defined himself as mestizo in the blackest state in Brazil.
Of the 12 states that were decided in this second round, five remained in the hands of openly Bolsonaro governors (São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rondônia, Santa Catarina and Amazonas);
four were for the PT or more related to Lula (Bahía, Alagoas, Espírito Santo and Paraíba) and three will be governed by a moderate center-right (Rio Grande do Sul, Pernambuco, Sergipe).
Of the 15 governors elected on October 2, nine declared support for Bolsonaro and six for Lula.
In that first round, the leader of the extreme right has already managed to gain important strongholds, especially Rio de Janeiro, where he began his political career, and Minas Gerais, the second most populous state in the country and which is key to deciding the electoral result. .
In Minas, the victory of Governor Romeu Zema, a liberal who appeared to be neutral but ended up swearing allegiance to the extreme right, was expected to be key to getting votes for the president to tip the balance at the national level, but the strategy did not work.
Although Minas voted for a conservative governor, for president the majority of its inhabitants opted for Lula.
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