Eduardo Braide leads Maranhão governor race with 44%, poll shows

Eduardo Braide, former mayor of São Luís, is leading the gubernatorial race in Maranhão with 44% of first-round voter intentions, a new Quaest poll revealed Monday. Orleans Brandão trails significantly with 25% of support.

Felipe Camarão of the PT party garnered 6%, and Roberto Rocha of PRTB secured 3%. Other candidates, including Dimas Cassimiro, Reginaldo Lima, and Saulo Arcangeli, received less than 1%. The poll also indicated that 17% of voters remain undecided, with 4% casting blank or null votes.

The survey, conducted between August 20 and 23 among 900 electors in the state, carries an estimated margin of error of 3 percentage points with a 95% confidence level. This marks the first gubernatorial poll since candidacies were confirmed, showing a slight shift from a March Quaest survey where Braide had 35% and Brandão had 24%.

The pre-campaign landscape in Maranhão has been marked by internal divisions. Governor Carlos Brandão endorsed his nephew, Orleans Brandão, for governor, diverging from the PT's initial preference for Felipe Camarão. Despite attempts by President Lula and other political figures to broker a joint candidacy, no agreement was reached, leading both Orleans Brandão and Camarão to run independently.