Electoral disputes and political representation in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo

Abstract This article analyzes how the dynamic of representation policy can translate into obstacles for the mobilization of the Legislative political actors around a metropolitan agenda. The objective is to analyze the representativeness of metropolitan – based deputies in the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo – and to characterize the electoral dispute in the state municipalities, which will be characterized by two different indicators: a concentration of the dispute (effective number of candidates) and an electoral competitiveness index (T index). The results show that the metropolitan deputies of São Paulo are not underrepresented in the Assembly and the electoral dispute in metropolitan municipalities tends to be less concentrated, with a “metropolis effect” on the concentration of the dispute, but not necessarily more competitive.

摘要：本文分析代表权政策的动态如何成为立法政治行动者围绕大都市议程开展动员的阻碍因素。本研究旨在剖析圣保罗州立法议会（Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo）中大都市选区议员的代表权状况，并采用两项差异化指标刻画该州各市政选区的选举竞争格局：一是竞争集中度（有效候选人数，effective number of candidates），二是选举竞争力指数（T index）。研究结果显示，圣保罗州大都市选区的议员在州议会中并未出现代表权不足的问题；大都市市政选区的选举竞争往往集中度更低，呈现出针对竞争集中度的“大都市效应”，但此类选举未必具有更高的竞争力。