FILE PHOTO: Sao Paulo Center-right incumbent Mayor Ricardo Nunes gestures while voting at a polling station during the municipal elections in Sao Paulo, Brazil October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Sao Paulo's Mayor Ricardo Nunes was reelected for another four years in Brazil's largest city, defeating leftist challenger Guilherme Boulos, according to a projection on Sunday by pollster Datafolha based on exit polls.
Nunes was backed by Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, who emerges from Sunday's municipal elections as the likely standard-bearer of Brazil's right to succeed hard-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was banned from seeking elected office for eight years.
The defeat of Boulos was a setback for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and provides fresh evidence of a rightward shift of the electorate as Brazil heads toward the 2026 presidential election.
(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Will Dunham)
