Right-wing leads dispute for mayors of Belo Horizonte and Curitiba

Pre-candidates for right lead this year’s electoral race for mayors of Belo Horizonte It is Curitiba, according to research released by the AtlasIntel institute this Friday, 26.

In Belo Horizonte, state deputy Bruno Engler (PL) leads with 31% of voting intentions against 16.4% for federal deputy Rogério Correia (PT). Next comes federal deputy Duda Salabert (PDT), with 10%; councilor Gabriel Azevedo (MDB), president of the City Council of the capital of Minas Gerais, with 9%; and senator Carlos Viana (Podemos), with 8.2%.

The current mayor of Belo Horizonte, Fuad Noman (PSD), who took office after the resignation of Alexandre Kalil (PSD) in 2022 to run for the Minas Gerais government, is in sixth place with 5% of the electorate’s preference.

Bolsonaro x Lula

At 26 years old, Bruno Engler coordinates the conservative movement Direita Minas and has the declared support of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Rogério Correia, in turn, is in his second consecutive term in the Chamber of Deputies and is President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s bet to lead a capital that has not seen a PT member at the head of the Executive for fifteen years.

Triple draw in Curitiba

The electoral race in Curitiba is much tighter. According to AtlasIntel, the top three placed are former federal deputy Deltan Dallagnol (Novo), with 18.2% of voting intentions, followed by former federal deputy Paulo Martins (PL), with 18%, and vice-mayor Eduardo Pimentel (PSD), with 17.9%. Within the margin of error of three percentage points, the scenario is a triple technical draw.

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Former prosecutor at the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) who headed the Lava-Jato task force in Curitiba, Dallagnol was the most voted federal deputy in Paraná in the 2022 elections, but did not complete his first year in office because he was revoked, in May 2023, by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). The Electoral Court decided that Dallagnol could not have run due to a conviction by the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) for irregularities in the task force’s daily rates, in addition to having left the MPF while being investigated by the body’s National Council.

Bolsonarist Paulo Martins, in turn, recently left the presidency of the PL in Curitiba and his candidacy is still uncertain due to internal splits. Defeated candidate for the Senate in 2022 — he came second, behind Sergio Moro (União), Martins resumed his position as commentator on Rádio Massa, which belongs to Carlos Massa, aka Ratinho, father of the current governor Ratinho Júnior (PSD).

Vice-mayor Eduardo Pimentel is a fellow supporter of both the governor and mayor Rafael Greca — who is at the end of his second consecutive term and cannot run for re-election —, as well as the grandson of former governor Paulo Pimentel. He is followed by former governor Beto Richa (PSDB), who scores 8.7% in the survey, and journalist Cristina Graeml (PMB), with 8.4%. The PT candidate, federal deputy Carol Dartora, appears in sixth, with 7.9% of voting intentions.

The AtlasIntel institute listened 1,267 voters in Belo Horizonte and 860 people in Curitiba between April 18th and 23rd. In both surveys, the confidence level is 95% and the margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.