{"id":33492,"date":"2016-10-12T12:48:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T15:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=33492"},"modified":"2018-03-18T00:34:46","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T03:34:46","slug":"a-number-of-notable-city-council-members-we-want-elected-to-rios-city-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=33492","title":{"rendered":"Hope in a Young Democracy: A Number of Notable ‘City Council Members We Want’ Elected in Rio"},"content":{"rendered":"

The October 2 municipal elections<\/a> produced exciting results for Rio de Janeiro\u2019s City Council<\/a>. Several candidates featured in the multiparty campaign Vereadores Que Queremos\u00a0(City Councillors We Want<\/a>)\u00a0were elected to office, including two favela-born candidates, Marielle Franco<\/a> and David Miranda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The platform Vereadores Que Queremos<\/a> provides media resources and visibility to those City Council candidates who are committed to democratic, grassroots, and transparent processes, and whose demographics reflect the diversity of Brazilian society. The goal is to work within a traditionally corrupt and homogenous institution\u00a0to create a space for the voices and participation of underrepresented members of society. This campaign is particularly important given the corrupt\u00a0nature of much of Rio’s City Council<\/a>. Many members have links to\u00a0vigilante militias<\/a> and employ questionable campaign methods, such as manipulation and bribing, as well as electioneering<\/a>: taking private or public policy actions solely to sway the vote.<\/p>\n

\"Marielle<\/a>
\nMarielle Franco was the fifth-voted City Council member<\/a> in Rio, an exceptional victory given the most recent City Council<\/a> only had six female officials out of a total of 51 members<\/a>. An article by newspaper Extra<\/em><\/a> published last week explains that while many other favela-based candidates running for City Council obtained far more votes than Marielle Franco within their respective favelas, none other than Marielle actually won election this year. Indeed, Marielle earned only 1,688 votes in her community of Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a>, compared to another Mar\u00e9 resident, Del from the Republican Party (PR), who obtained 8,058 votes within her community.<\/p>\n

\"Votes<\/a>However, Marielle was successful in winning votes from the city at large, most notably from the Central<\/a> and South Zone<\/a>, earning her a grand total of 46,502 votes. She was the second most popular candidate in Jardim Bot\u00e2nico<\/a>, a wealthy South Zone\u00a0neighborhood. The Extra<\/em> article also features the results for favela-based candidates from Rocinha<\/a> and Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a>, both of whom\u00a0exhibit greater votes from within their respective communities, but far fewer\u00a0from outside.<\/p>\n

Marielle\u2019s victory is not the first time a favela resident has been elected to City Council. In fact, one of the individuals in the chart, Jorginho Sos, was running for reelection. Nevertheless, in all levels of government in Brazil there is a continuous lack of black officials, and especially of favela residents, not to mention a gross underrepresentation of women in public office. Marielle\u2019s widespread popularity, especially outside her immediate community, is unprecedented.<\/p>\n

Marielle explains that her goal wasn\u2019t to be a candidate exclusively for Complexo da Mar\u00e9, because the issues that affect her community are pertinent throughout the city. As a result, her campaign outreach spanned various regions, transcending the segregated character\u00a0of the city<\/a>. A single mother at 19, and first in her family to earn\u00a0a university degree, Marielle\u2019s platform is to advocate on behalf of black women. She wants more government-funded daycares so women can work, especially in favelas where\u00a0sufficient daycare is lacking. She is a long-time critic of the shortcomings of Pacifying Police Units (UPPs)<\/a>\u00a0and police operations in favelas, having lost a dear friend to violence resulting from the military occupation<\/a>\u00a0in Mar\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>
\nAlthough he no longer resides in a favela, David Miranda<\/a> was born and raised in Jacarezinho<\/a> in the North Zone<\/a> and was likewise elected to office. Like Marielle, he ran with the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL). David brings with him a special commitment to advocate\u00a0for Internet<\/a> freedom and LGBT<\/a> rights.<\/p>\n

David is an activist and journalist, and long-time supporter of Edward Snowden. His partner Glenn Greenwald is the famous\u00a0journalist, lawyer and author who is best known for his role in a series of reports published by The Guardian<\/em> revealing information leaked by Edward Snowden regarding surveillance in the United States and Britain. David Miranda experienced state repression of freedom of expression firsthand when in 2013 he was detained at Heathrow airport<\/a> for his association with Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden.
\n<\/a>
\nTwo more candidates from Vereadores Que Queremos were also elected, although not favela-based. Renato Cinco<\/a> from the PSOL party was reelected to City Council as\u00a0an outspoken critic of the city\u2019s hosting of the World Cup<\/a> and Olympic Games<\/a> and associated corruption. He is also a firm opponent of the war on drugs, seeing it more as a war against poor people, and has actively pushed for the legalization<\/a> of marijuana. He wishes to combat rampant police brutality<\/a> that continues with impunity.<\/p>\n

Reimont<\/a> of the Worker\u2019s Party (PT) was likewise reelected, and has helped found various social projects including the AIDS Prevention Institute (IPRA)<\/a>, and Training Group for Popular Educators (GEFEP)<\/a>. He is vice-president of the Permanent Commission on Education and Culture and presides over three special commissions: Homeless Population, Informal Commerce, and Public Policy for Youth. He is also active in literacy initiatives.<\/p>\n

\"Indiana<\/a>
\nWhile Indiana Siquiera<\/a> of the PSOL party did not win a seat, she acquired enough votes to act as \u201csubstitute\u201d City Council member, making her the first trans woman to come this close to achieving public office in Rio. Her platform is to advocate on behalf of the LGBT community and sex workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another notable election in the Rio metropolitan region was that\u00a0of Tal\u00edria Petrone<\/a>\u00a0of the PSOL party\u00a0in Niter\u00f3i<\/a>, Rio’s sister city\u00a0across the Guanabara Bay. She was also featured by Vereadores Que Queremos. A black feminist, Tal\u00edria Petrone\u00a0obtained the highest number of votes of any candidate in her municipality. Her platform focuses on issues of gender equality, LGBT rights and improving quality of education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, various states in the northern, northeastern, center-west and southeastern regions of Brazil elected indigenous candidates<\/a> to public office, including Weibe Tapeba<\/a> of the Workers Party (PT) in Cear\u00e1, who participated in the Vereadores Que Queremos campaign.<\/p>\n

Given the historically corrupt nature of city councils in Brazil, and growing tension in Brazilian politics in the wake of Dilma\u2019s impeachment<\/a>, the success of candidates involved in the Vereadores Que Queremos campaign brings\u00a0a glimmer of hope for transparency and democracy in Brazil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The October 2 municipal elections produced exciting results for Rio de Janeiro\u2019s City Council. Several candidates featured in the multiparty campaign Vereadores Que Queremos\u00a0(City Councillors We Want)\u00a0were elected to office, including two favela-born candidates, Marielle […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":33503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1668,1288,2242,328,1329],"tags":[2234,2276,162,280,32,479,1998,1113,595,2211,2030,516,749,499,894,1507,598,551,37,374,2217,2040,12,2275,156],"writer":[2210],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-participationwatch","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-democracy","10":"category-understanding-rio","11":"category-by-international-observers","12":"tag-2016-mayoral-election","13":"tag-aids","14":"tag-city-council","15":"tag-complexo-da-mare","16":"tag-complexo-do-alemao","17":"tag-democracy","18":"tag-drug-legalization","19":"tag-educational-reform","20":"tag-elections","21":"tag-favela-representation-in-politics","22":"tag-freedom-of-expression","23":"tag-homeless","24":"tag-internet","25":"tag-jacarezinho","26":"tag-jardim-botanico","27":"tag-lgbt","28":"tag-municipal-election","29":"tag-niteroi","30":"tag-north-zone","31":"tag-politics","32":"tag-psol","33":"tag-pt","34":"tag-rocinha","35":"tag-sex-work","36":"tag-south-zone","37":"writer-nour-el-youssef"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33492"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=33492"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=33492"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=33492"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=33492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}