Bolsonaro’s Candidate Falls: Eduardo Pimentel Secures Historic Win as Mayor of Curitiba

The result represents a victory for pragmatic alliances made under the leadership of the main central political leaders

The vice mayor of Curitiba, Eduardo Pimentel (PSD), was elected mayor of the city this Sunday, the 27th, with 57.34% of the valid votes, against 42.66% of his opponent, the journalist Cristina Graeml (PMB), when 92.67% of the votes were counted.

The result represents a victory for pragmatic alliances made under the leadership of the main political leaders of the centrist parties against the most extreme wing of Bolsonarianism.

The dispute between Pimentel and Graeml revealed an aspect of the Bolsonaro group: the contradiction between the alliances the group makes with the support of Valdemar Costa Neto, the national president of the PL, with the actions of the more radical group, led by Bolsonaro. This is how, for example, the right “division” in São Paulo between supporting mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB), who had the formal support of the PL, and Pablo Marçal (PRTB) defeated in the first round.

Pimentel managed to overcome the more radical right in his dispute, being elected mayor of the capital of Paraná for the next four years.

A business administrator, Pimentel comes from a family of politicians. His grandfather, Paulo Pimentel, was the governor of the province. His brother, Daniel Pimentel Slaviero, is president of Companhia Paranaense de Energia (Copel). He entered politics in 2014, when he joined the PSDB and was a candidate for state deputy. He was defeated that year, but two years later he was nominated for vice president on the ticket of Rafael Greca (who, at the time, was linked to the PMN run. Both were the winners of the election. Pimentel changed the parties with an eye on this year’s elections, joining them to the group of the governor of Paraná, Ratinho Jr. (PSD).