The decision by the parties that constitute the so-called Centrão (“Big Center”) to support the candidacy of former governor of São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB), prompted more than 36,000 mentions to the PSDB politician between Thursday (19) at 5 pm and Friday (20) at 5 pm, an increase of 715% compared to the previous 24 hours, when around 4,400 references were registered. Two peaks of mentions were registered in the period analyzed.

Evolution of mentions to Alckmin on Twitter between June 19 at 5 pm and June 20 at 5 pm

Source: Twitter | Elaborated by: FGV DAPP

In the first peak, which happened last night shortly after the publication of the first news on the viability of the alliance, the tone of the posts was essentially negative.

The analysis of the map of interactions, based on 10,214 retweets about the alliance between the Centrão and Alckmin, shows that the debate took place in four main groups. The largest of them (dark blue) accounted for 40% of the accounts and comprised right-wing profiles, with a discourse of support to Jair Bolsonaro. The group criticized the approximation between Alckmin and the Centrão due to corruption-related issues – the PSL pre-candidate is repeatedly defended, and, according to the users of the group, he would never associate himself with the Centrão. The group also concentrated most of the criticism about the demand for a new source of financing for labor unions in order to form the alliance.

Map of interactions regarding the “Centrão”

Source: Twitter | Elaborated by: FGV DAPP