Vote, territory and social classes in the 2022 electoral process

the case of Belém-Pará

Abstract

The article discusses the results of the second round of the 2022 process for electing the President of Brazil, considering the political strategies, interests and arguments expressed in the electoral contest in the municipality of Belém, State of Pará. It analyzes, in the light of the territorial and class debate, the relationship between valid votes, territory and social classes in that election. To do so, in addition to the bibliographical review and analysis of documents: (i) a georeferenced database was built with electoral information from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and socioeconomic data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE); (ii) an opinion survey was carried out using a convenience sample, stratified by income bands. This shows that there was no direct correspondence of the high and middle income classes, residing in areas with a better infrastructure, to the (right-wing) project of Jair Messias Bolsonaro's candidacy, nor of the lower income classes, residing in peripheral areas and/or areas lacking in infrastructure, to the (left-wing) project of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's candidacy. Furthermore, it shows that the discourse strategies of the media and fake news had repercussions in different ways and with different importance on actions, by class and segment of the territory, on political thinking and on the decision for whom to cast a vote in Belém.