Coligações eleitorais no nível municipal: atores, racionalidade, estratégias e recursos

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate and understand the partisan behavior in the formation of the municipal electoral coalitions. Research on coalitions in Brazil rely mainly on quantitative analysis techniques with the main objective to find patterns, regularities and general trends in the strategies of parties, combining two main arguments, pragmatism and ideology. They offer an important contribution by drawing a general picture of coalitions at the municipal level. However, these studies do not allow understanding into the motivations of local political elites in the performance of alliances and to what extent this process is affected by actors operating at other levels, aiming at other goals. Thus, it is intended in this research to understand a little more of that theme, through a qualitative approach. Thus, interviews were conducted with political leaders in the 2012 elections in two municipalities of Minas Gerais, Lambari and Juiz de Fora. We sought to investigate three main dimensions: key players involved in the process, their perceptions, strategies and resources mobilized by them as well as their motivations, in two municipalities, one small and one medium size. In addition, it sought to explore the links between the different levels of the federation, through the influence of the dynamics of the state and national level in the writing process of alliances at the local level. The results corroborate the hypothesis and show that while the pragmatic component appears to be present in most parties, in both cities, one can’t ignore the importance of other factors that make the decision of the most complex allies, which limit and constrain action of the agents.