Three days after the first round of elections for a new president of the republic, senators, governors, as well as deputies of the federation and states, it was already possible to make a lot of analyzes and comments on the political scenario.

City officials failed to elect representatives to Alesc – Photo: Carlos Kilian/Agência Alesc/ND

Itajai on the North Coast drew attention to the lack of representation among candidates for elected deputies. The city elected Jorge Götten (LP) as a federal deputy, but not as a state candidate.

Born in Tayo, Jorge lives and works as a businessman in Itajai. The candidate was the third most voted federal deputy in Santa Catarina.

The municipality also had as a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies Marcio Gonçalves (UB), Dede. He received the most votes in Itajai with 20,000 votes, but was not elected.

Marcelo Werner (PSC) received 17,339 votes in the city, however was not elected.

Osmar Teixeira (Solidariedade), Thiago Morastoni (Podemos) and Anna Carolina Martins (PSDB) ran for statehood but failed to secure a seat in the Santa Catarina (Alesque) State Legislature.

But what explains why a city the size of Itajai has no seat in the state legislature? We talked about this with Arilton Freres, sociologist and director of the Instituto Opinião.

Arilton explains that the Itajaí elections followed an expected trend, with a significant number of votes for President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and his allies.

Polarization has been a national trend, although in the state it presents more of a Santa Catarina profile: Bolsonaro and his victorious allies are very strong, and the PT candidates, although in second place, have a more modest participation.

This process also affects the non-election of local candidates. “The logic of majoritarian voting ended up polluting the majority of local votes and thus sprayed votes in proportional elections, which ultimately led to the candidate not being elected in the city,” explains the sociologist.

Strong city representation in legislatures is becoming increasingly important, Arilton said.

“Solutions to big problems come from here, and often resources to structure projects. The absence of a city representative certainly weakens the municipality in dealing with these issues,” he explains.

However, the absence of elected deputies may not be repeated in the next elections. Movements across the city’s sectors can help in this process of restoring political representation.

“Itajaí is a city with a strong economy and strategic importance for Santa Catarina and Brazil. I believe that more unity is needed from all sectors in the search for the formation and strengthening of leadership in order to turn the tide in the next elections. Perhaps it is important to campaign so that voters vote for candidates for deputies in the city, so that it is easier to get to the elections in 2026,” the sociologist concludes.

In the North Coast region, candidate Paulina (Podemos) from Bombinhas was re-elected to the position of state deputy. Carlos Humberto (Poland), former Deputy Mayor of Balneario Camboriu, will have his first experience in this position.

The Santa Catarina State MP with the most votes, Ana Campagnolo (LP), was born in Itajai, but her activities and electorate are concentrated in the west of the state.

In the Federal Senate, Itajaí candidate Jorge Seif (PL) received the most votes with over 1.4 million votes.