The Electoral Court registered 240,587 black candidates, representing 52.7% of the candidacies. This is the second time in history that the number of white candidates has been exceeded, which this year is 215,763. The data includes candidates for mayor, deputy mayor and city councilor in this year’s municipal elections, scheduled for October 6. 
Previously, the only election in which black candidates had outnumbered white candidates was in the 2022 general elections, when the number of black candidates represented 50.2% of the total. In the 2018 municipal elections, this rate had been 46.4%.
The figures were released this Tuesday (20) by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), after consolidating the data referring to the number of requests for registration of candidacy, which this year totaled 456,310. Of these candidacies, 155 thousand are women, 33.96% of the total.
The party with the highest percentage of black candidates was the PCdoB, with 70.19% of its female candidates declaring themselves black, as well as 73.4% of male candidates. The Novo party has the highest percentage of non-black female candidates, 58.06%, and the PL has the highest rate of non-black male candidates, 56.4%.
The percentages of each association can be found in portal of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
The percentage of black and female candidates is calculated by the TSE with the aim of establishing the distribution in accordance with the legal quotas of public resources from the Special Campaign Financing Fund (FEFC), the Electoral Fund, and the Financial Assistance Fund for Political Parties (Party Fund).
For women’s candidacies, for example, the legislation determines that at least 30% of all resources used in campaigns must be allocated. In the case of black candidacies, the application of resources must be proportional to their number, at the same percentage.
This week, the Congress approved a Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC) which determines the application of 30% of public resources for electoral campaigns to the candidacies of black people. The rule could lead to a reduction in the funds allocated to these candidacies, as it ends up restricting a portion that previously accompanied the number of black candidates.
The TSE classification follows that adopted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which includes among black people those who declare themselves to be brown or black. According to the 2022 Census, 56.1% of the Brazilian population declares themselves to be black. For experts consulted by Brazil Agencythe percentage reflects greater racial recognition on the part of Brazilians.
