Juliana Barbassa – AP/ABC News, 09/04/2012
There have been 22 murders connected to upcoming municipal campaigns for mayor or city council in Brazil during the past 60 days, leading 410 towns to ask for help from elite federal police, according to a report from O Globo newspaper on Monday.
The numbers leading up to the October elections are worrisome but not unusual, said Gilson Conzatti, the president of a national group representing city council members. Conzatti says local elections can threaten entrenched power structures that respond violently.
A survey of candidates in Brazil’s 5,565 towns and cities by Conzatti’s organization showed about 5 percent of candidates had suffered some threat or attack.
