Brazilian cities elect new mayors this Sunday
Voters between 15 and 29 years old represent 27% of Brazil's electorate.
A total of 144,088,912 voters are eligible to vote in municipal elections this Sunday (Oct. 2) in Brazil, according to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). Voters between 15 and 29 years old represent 27% of Brazil's electorate. According to the Electoral Court, their vote will be decisive in municipal elections. Data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) show that Brazil has about 51 million young people aged 15 to 29 years, equivalent to a quarter of the country's population. Of these, more than 75% (38,876,290) are eligible to vote in this year's elections, according to data from the Superior Electoral Court.
The number of candidates for mayor and councilors are also impressive: 496,892 people have submitted their applications to the Brazilian Electoral justice to stand as candidates. They dispute the votes running for 35 different political parties.
This year, 16,565 candidates run for the position of mayor of one of the 5,568 Brazilian towns. For the 57,958 positions of councilor, there is a total of 463,375 candidates—on average eight candidates for each position. An interesting fact is that in 95 municipalities, there is only one candidate running for city council, and these candidates will need only one vote to be elected, which can be given by themselves.
Overall, the vast majority of parties had more candidates for mayors this year than in previous years. Among the six largest parties of the country, only the Workers' Party (PT)—party of former presidents Dilma Rousseff and Lula—had fewer candidates for mayor in this election than in 2012. The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), which is the largest party, dispute the election this Sunday with 2,382 candidates.
There is still a gap between male and female candidates in this year's elections. While 52% of voters are women and 48%, men, for elections disputes, only 32% of candidates are women and 68%, men. Of the 16,556 candidates for municipal governments 14,418 are male and 2,149 female. According to the TSE, in the dispute for council members, the number of female candidates is nearly 50% of male candidates.
Security reinforced by military officers
The Superior Electoral Court will send armed forces officers to 315 Brazilian municipalities to ensure security of municipal elections on Sunday. The military officers will patrol polling places in 13 Brazilian states: Acre, Alagoas, Amazonas, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Paraíba, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe and Tocantins. The cost of military officers will be covered by the Electoral Court.
Translated by Amarílis Anchieta
Fonte: Brazilian cities elect new mayors this Sunday
