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.