Communist Elected in Brazil: Jones Manoel Wins Pernambuco Seat

Jones Manoel has been elected to Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies from Pernambuco. TSE-sourced results carried by Folha marked the PSOL candidate as elected while the count was still progressing, with Manoel leading the state’s federal-deputy vote.

The victory gives the communist historian and organizer a seat in Congress after a campaign centered on public ownership, stronger public services, limits on financial power and a more confrontational left opposition to privatization.

His breakthrough came on an election night that was moving sharply in the other direction in several Senate contests. In São Paulo, right-wing candidates Guilherme Derrite of the PP and André do Prado of the PL won both seats. In the Federal District, Michelle Bolsonaro and Bia Kicis of the PL also captured both Senate seats.

Right-wing candidates were also securing major victories in Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul as results came in. The full national balance was still being assembled, but the early picture showed a substantial conservative advance in the chamber that will renew 54 of its 81 seats.

That makes Manoel’s result politically striking: a communist breakthrough in Pernambuco arriving amid a much broader night of Senate gains for Brazil’s right.

Pamphlets has been following the wider Brazilian election and the contest over Congress, foreign policy and the balance of power. Read our earlier election report, Brazil Votes as Washington Looms Over the Ballot.