The choice of the heads of the municipal Executive, the mayor and his deputy, does not end after the voter selects the “confirm” button on the electronic ballot box. From that moment on, the exercise of monitoring and monitoring how the elected representatives will represent each vote received, whether in the management of resources or in the execution of the duties of their positions, begins. To do this, it is necessary to know the duties of the politicians who will occupy these important public roles for four years.
According to the political scientist at the Federal University of Brasília (UnB), Valdir Pucci, mayors and vice-mayors have the primary function of managing the day-to-day running of the municipality. “He is the one who does the daily work, the work of this direct administration of the city and the search for solutions to problems. He is the head of the Executive Branch. He is the one who enforces the rules within the city”, he highlights.
To carry out everything necessary for the functioning of the municipality, the mayor and his immediate replacement, the deputy, need to go beyond administrative functions, reinforces Jorge Almeida, political scientist at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE). The politician in this role also has the duty to propose laws that generate a budget to enable the execution of what is necessary, in addition to being the official representative of everything that concerns the locality.
“If the municipality has its own water and sewage service, it is the responsibility of the mayor. If it doesn’t, whether it’s from the state or a company hired to do so, it must monitor and act so that things work correctly. It must also act with regard to negotiations of funds for the municipality’s participation in federal resources, when there are discussions of tax reforms that could affect the municipality”, he explains.
Almeida recalls that, often, there is a lack of clarity about who is responsible for carrying out services such as public security, which has policing as a responsibility of the state, but complements that are the responsibility of the municipal administration.
“Education, employment policy, agile public transport, with little distance between one bus and another so people don’t end up in the middle of the street, quality public lighting. All of this has a direct impact on the issue of security”, he says.
To monitor whether the mayor is effectively working to improve the municipality and guarantee a better quality of life for its residents, voters have some tools that already exist in Brazilian legislation, such as the Transparency Law (LC131/2009). It guarantees the population the right to information about all expenses and investments made with public money, in real time.
It is also possible to monitor the activity of the heads of the Executive Branch by emails officials or office telephones. In cases where the mayor maintains social networks, it is also important to interact on these channels.
According to Pucci, there is no point in voters voting every four years and not establishing permanent monitoring to monitor the administration. “In theory, I would be giving someone a blank check so they can make decisions on my behalf. But a democratic process is not a blank check. Those who are elected have to follow the will of the citizen, the will of the voter.
