PT and PFL in the 2000 mayoral election in Recife

Abstract

The following article is an analysis of the 2000 mayoral election in the city of Recife and its results. In this election, the then mayor Roberto Magalhães (PFL) was running for reelection with a large favoritism. However, he experienced a defeat in the second round to the candidate João Paulo (PT). The traditional media-driven interpretations tend to attribute this defeat to an obscene gesture made by the then mayor during the campaign. From then on, emotion would have taken over the election, hindering Magalhães' reelection plans. Here, however, based on the analysis of periodicals, electoral data, interviews and authors such as Jairo Nicolau, Marcio Nuno Rabat and Roberto Ramos, we seek not to deny the eventual weight of emotion, but rather to place the election in a larger context.