Brazil holds 2nd round of municipal elections in 50 cities

Fifty large Brazilian cities, including the largest city of Sao Paulo, will hold the second round of voting for municipal elections on Oct. 28 after the first round ended in most cities on Sunday, local media reported Monday. On Sunday, Mayor Eduardo Paes of Rio de Janeiro, the nation's second-largest city, was reelected with 65 percent of the votes. Another eight state capitals elected mayors in the first round. According to the law, cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants can go on to a second electoral round should none of the candidates receive over 50 percent of the votes in the first stage of voting. Of the 50 cities to hold elections again on Oct. 28, 17 are state capitals, including Sao Paulo, where former mayor Jose Serra from the PSDB party received 30.75 percent of the votes in Sunday's elections, while former education minister Fernando Haddad from the Workers Party (PT), garnered 28.98 percent. Some 115 million voters participated in the local elections Sunday, while 23 million eligible voters abstained, the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced Monday. A total of 102.8 million valid votes were counted, along with 3.8 million blank votes and 9.1 million invalid votes, the TSE said. TSE President Carmen Lucia said the elections went smoothly, and while 2,000 people were arrested around the country, that number is still less than half the number arrested in local elections in 2008. Among the cities going to a second round later this month are several host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer games, including Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Curitiba, Cuiaba, Fortaleza, Natal and Manaus.