Opinion – Cida Bento: A record of black candidates

It was headlined in the mainstream media that, in the 2022 elections, Brazil will have a record proportion of candidacies from women and blacks — 49.3% are black people, and women add up to 33.4%, according to the TSE (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral ).

This growth has to do with the intensification of pressure from social movements, in particular the black movement, for greater political representation in parliaments and executives across the country. The fight is for the democratization of these spaces.

The double counting of votes for women candidates and black candidates for the Chamber of Deputies, as decided by the TSE in 2021, in defining the values ​​of the party fund and the electoral fund transferred to political parties, has the potential to change the reality that the Politics in Brazil has always been made mainly by white men.

Today, the electoral processes, albeit timidly and slowly, are incorporating other segments of the population, which throughout the country’s history have not participated in decisions that directly affect their lives and are collectively building their participation. This plurality in political participation
is expressive of what can be considered a democracy.

The real possibility of changes in the political scenario increases violence against these candidates as a way of maintaining political privileges, of not allowing positions different from the hegemonic ones in the political scenario or even aiming to destroy any opposition.

The report Gender and Race Inequality in Brazilian Politics, by Oxfam Brasil and Instituto Alziras, revealed that in the 2020 elections threats, speeches inciting violence and hatred, intellectual discredit, criticism of the age group, ethnic- and, for trans women, denial of gender identity.

The report also showed that candidates who received attacks were mostly offended by their professional performances, as politicians and public managers — with the exception of the elderly and LGBTQIA+, who were also targets of hatred and aggression for these characteristics.

In this way, if there was a record increase in the number of black male and female councilors in City Councils, which went from 42.1% to 45.1% of mandates, these parliamentarians were attacked precisely because they are what they are.

And in this context, some situations are repeated, such as the fact that white men are the only population group where the share of elected officials is greater than the proportion of candidates.

On the other hand, civil society initiatives to increase the number of votes in these segments are also growing. The Malala Fund’s Network of Education Activists in Brazil mobilized to encourage Brazilian girls to register and vote in this year’s general elections through the #GirlsDecidem campaign.

It is worth remembering that the number of young people between 15 and 17 years old with new titles grew by more than 45%, according to the TSE, corresponding to 1 million young people with a title.

It is also the objective of this fund to promote not only the expansion of the vote of young women, but also quality public education in regions of the country where most girls do not attend secondary education, especially black, indigenous and quilombola girls, with a view to political changes. to ensure secondary education for all girls.

This entire process of increasing efforts by parliaments and executives to reflect cultural, religious, gender, race and age multiplicity is also an expression of social trust in democracy.
It is in line with the 2022 Charter, read on August 11 in most Brazilian states, by young, peripheral, black and working students at the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo (USP), highlighting the importance of defending the Constitution, the rule of law and democracy.