Brazil | 2024 mayoral elections to include more Black candidates
Brian Mier, teleSUR correspondent in Brazil, reports on the upcoming October 6th elections in the country, as the landscape is changing towards more inclusivity for African-descent voters. teleSUR
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00:00For centuries, Brazilians' black population has been marginalized in the political system,
00:05but thanks to the new law, times are changing.
00:09In Brazil, our correspondent Brian Mears has more.
00:13Fifty-five percent of Brazil's population traces its ethnic heritage to Africa, but
00:18historically this demographic has been woefully underrepresented in politics.
00:22Thanks to a 2020 court ruling on a law drafted by Workers' Party congresswoman and civil
00:27rights leader Benedita da Silva, however, the scenario is expected to improve on October
00:336th, when voters will go to the polls to elect 5,569 mayors and around 58,000 city councilors.
00:41We're the majority of the population, but we're a minority in decision-making spaces
00:47in the legislative and executive branches of the local, state and federal governments.
00:53So we've been trying to correct this.
00:56Implementing quotas requiring the political parties to allocate a percentage of their
01:00campaign funding and airtime to strengthen our candidacies is an issue of social justice.
01:062020 marked the first local election cycle in which political parties were required to
01:12allocate 30% of their campaign funding to Afro-Brazilian candidates, and the result
01:17was the highest percentage of black local elected officials in history.
01:21Currently, 44% of all city councilors and 32% of all mayors are Afro-Brazilian.
01:27It's a percentage that is still lower than their representation in the population at
01:31large, but the scenario is expected to improve on October 6th.
01:39The 2024 elections provide a crucial opportunity for black candidates to establish themselves
01:45and amplify their political influence, paving the way for them to seek higher office in
01:512026.
01:53Our progress is unstoppable.
01:59Brian Mier, TELASUR, Recife.