A speech, three or four questions, a handful of selfies and here is Guilherme Boulos again. “Friends, stay seated, respect the sanitary distances! “, urges the left-wing candidate for mayor of Sao Paulo in the direction of the small assembly of supporters, gathered in the popular district of Itaquera. Both precise and in a hurry, tense and tonic, Boulos thanks those present and quickly rushes into a small gray car.
The candidate’s time is precious and his challenge immense, commensurate with the hopes he arouses. At only 38 years old, “Boulos” (as everyone calls him), will contest the second round of the municipal elections on November 29 and has serious chances of swinging to the left nothing less than the richest and the largest megalopolis of Latin America.
The winds are buoyant: the latest polls give a Guilherme Boulos on the rise, following his center-right opponent, the outgoing mayor and favorite Bruno Covas. “For us, the fact that he is in the second round is already a huge victory”, insists Lidia, a 23-year-old student, tattoo on her shoulder and locks of hair dyed blue, came to see her candidate in Itaquera.
Because who would have bet a centavo on this candidate of the small Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), with the black beard and stooped shoulders? Boulos had, until the second round, only seventeen seconds of airtime on television: twelve times less than his opponent. This did not prevent him from obtaining 20% of the vote (against 32% for Bruno Covas) and from rekindling the flame of the Brazilian left, still stunned by the victory in 2018 of Jair Bolsonaro.
Professional insurgent
Since then, the “Boulosmania” has been in full swing. “Are you asking me for its main quality?” It’s difficult to answer, because he has them all ”, enthuses Rose, 39, another “fan” of the Itaquera candidate. Unprecedented fact: all the caciques of the left, once at loggerheads, gave their unanimous support to the man of the moment, from Lula to the former Minister of the Environment Marina Silva, and even Ciro Gomes, third man of the last presidential election.
The trajectory of the new “darling” of the left is unique and transgresses social divisions in Brazil. Born in 1982, this son of well-to-do doctors grew up in the privileged district of Pinheiros, stronghold of the Paulist “bobos”. But “Guilherme” refuses to let himself be locked in his golden prison. At 19, he slammed the door of the family home, and went to pitch his tent in a homeless camp, located on the far outskirts of Sao Paulo.
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