Comportamento eleitoral em Porto Alegre nas eleições de 2004: o voto nas regiões do Orçamento Participativo

Abstract

Participatory Budgeting, which was first introduced in the city of Porto Alegre in 1989, has enabled an increase in citizen participation in county government administration by means of a combination between direct and representative democracy. From then on, it has been acknowledged both nationally and internationally, turning into a model of an innovative experience of popular participation in public management. In spite of its success, popular participation aimed at public budget definition and control has not been institutionalized in the long run, and its continuity depends on vote results as well as on the willingness of political parties. In order to understand the electoral behavior in a city that has adopted participatory tools that go beyond those prescribed for running representative democracies, the ballots for the Workers Party (PT) and People s Socialist Party (PPS) were analyzed in each of the sixteen areas for Participatory Budgeting on occasion of the second round vote in the 2004 city mayor election. Collected data show that PT, the party responsible for establishing and maintaining this political participatory practice along four county governments, had a better electoral performance in socio-economically poorer areas, the same ones that benefited the most from Participatory Budgeting, a key element for the explanation of ballot casting by Porto Alegre voters.