Electoral discourses for governmental health policies in the two most populous cities in Brazil

ABSTRACT What would the types of electoral speeches be for the health sector registered by applications to municipal governments? To investigate this issue, a qualitative study was carried out with a hermeneutical analysis of electoral program documents, registered by majority candidates in the first round of the municipal elections of 2016 in the Brazilian metropolises of São Paulo (SP) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ). In most of the speeches there was no description of specific institutional strategies for health, much less its terms of viability and feasibility. Four distinct discursive profiles were emphasized, in which the propositions for health policies were either reduced to the managerial aspect or subsumed by discursive commonplaces. Contextually, there was an emphasis on normative discourses and performative appeals, without consubstantiation in practical discourses.