The News
Friday 29 of March 2024

City Elections in Brazil Point to Post-impeachment Future


Marcelo Crivella, bishop of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, campaigns for governor of Río de Janeiro state, for the Brazilian Republican Party,photo: AP/Léo Corrêa
Marcelo Crivella, bishop of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, campaigns for governor of Río de Janeiro state, for the Brazilian Republican Party,photo: AP/Léo Corrêa
Polls show outsiders running well in big cities like São Paulo, where the front-runner is a businessman who once hosted "The Apprentice Brazil"

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilians are voting across the country for the first time since President Dilma Rousseff was removed from office, and they appear to be in a kick-the-bums-out mood.

The vote in more than 5,500 cities will help measure voter anger over a slumping economy, disgust at endemic corruption and divisions over Rousseff’s impeachment, as well as local issues.

Polls show outsiders running well in big cities like São Paulo, where the front-runner is a businessman who once hosted “The Apprentice Brazil.” More traditional candidates are simply hoping to garner enough votes to force a second round of voting later this month.

The Senate removed Rousseff for illegally shifting funds between federal budgets. She denies wrongdoing and says Brazil’s elites are trying to roll back social gains brought by her leftist party.