SAO PAULO, Oct 28, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his arch-rival, far-right ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro both suffered disappointment Sunday in the second round of municipal elections, with voters in Sao Paulo and other cities choosing centre-right mayors.

Ricardo Nunes, the outgoing mayor of Sao Paulo, Latin America's biggest city, was re-elected with a resounding 59.3 percent of the vote, against 40.6 percent for Guilherme Boulos, Lula's candidate.

The left won only in one of the four state capitals where it had candidates in the second round -- the northeastern city of Fortaleza, a traditional left-wing bastion.

Bolsonaro's Liberal Party won only two of the nine capitals it was hoping to clinch in the run-off.

It had already won two in the first round of the election on October 6.
The results were being closely watched for signs of support for the left and the right -- embodied by Lula and Bolsonaro -- two years before the next general election.

"The big winners are mainly the parties of the center and center-right," political scientist Leandro Gabiati, director of the consulting firm Dominium, told AFP.

He added that voters had backed advocates of "traditional" politics over "more ideological" candidates.

"Balance won over extremism," Sao Paulo mayor Nunes cheered.

Bolsonaro is barred from running for office until 2030 after being found guilty of casting doubts on the electoral system during his failed 2022 election campaign.

He hopes nonetheless to get his conviction overturned and run again for the top job.

Lula has not yet confirmed whether he will seek a fourth term.
Boulos's defeat in Sao Paulo is a bitter blow for the 79-year-old president, who had campaigned hard for him.

Lula, who is recovering from a fall, did not turn out to vote in his electoral district of Sao Bernardo do Campo in Sao Paulo on Sunday and did not publicly comment on the vote.

In Rio de Janeiro, centrist mayor Eduardo Paes easily defeated Bolsonaro's former intelligence chief Alexandre Ramagem during the first round of the election to win a fourth term.