Nelson Marchezan Júnior

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Nelson Marchezan Júnior is a Brazilian lawyer and politician from Porto Alegre, affiliated with the PSDB. He served as a federal deputy for Rio Grande do Sul from 2011 to 2017 and was the mayor of Porto Alegre from 2017 to 2021. He is the son of Nelson Marchezan, a former president of the Federal Chamber of Deputies.

Early life and education
Born on November 30, 1971, in Porto Alegre, Marchezan Júnior completed his secondary education at Colégio Rosário. He studied Physical Education at UFRGS and advertising at PUCRS without graduating, and earned a law degree from Unisinos in 1995. After a year traveling in Europe, he opened a language school with Rogério Belloc Ramos. He is married to Tainá Vidal and has children, including Benício (born 2019); he also has two other children, Nelson Marchezan Neto and Bernardo (the latter recognized in 2017).

Political beginnings and national career
Marchezan Júnior started in public life as the director of Development, Agribusiness, and Governments at Banrisul (2003–2006). He was elected state deputy (2007–2011) and then a federal deputy (2011–2017). In Congress, he supported the Privatization CPI in 2011, voted in favor of removing Eduardo Cunha from the Ethics Committee in 2016, and backed the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, a position he later said he nearly regretted in a debate about pay raises for state workers.

Porto Alegre mayoralty (2017–2021)
In 2016, Marchezan Júnior ran for mayor as part of the Forward Porto Alegre coalition (PSDB, PP, PMB, PTC) and won in the second round with about 60% of valid votes, defeating Sebastião Melo. He became the first PSDB mayor of the city.

Key goals and actions as mayor
- Finance and administration: he pushed austerity measures, aiming to reduce the number of municipal agencies (from 37 to 23) and secretaries (from 29 to 15), and to cut commissioned positions. He created the Banco de Talentos to track public-sector nominations and moved toward public-private partnerships (PPPs) such as the Orla de Guaíba project.
- Governance and coalition: his administration began with a weak majority in the city council, making governance challenging.
- Public services and transport: he pursued privatization options for Carris (the city’s bus company) and moved forward with bus fleet upgrades, sometimes accompanied by fare increases and reductions in exemptions. He ended the second-round fare-free policy in 2017, maintained it for students, and implemented later fare adjustments.
- Tax policy: there were attempts to reform IPTU (property tax), with debates and votes over changes during his term.
- Public works and projects: his government advanced various PPPs and urban projects, including improvements to urban mobility and the city’s infrastructure.

Impeachment and later investigations
In August 2020, impeachment proceedings were opened against Marchezan Júnior over allegations of misusing about 3.1 million reais from the Municipal Health Fund for publicity campaigns. A municipal inquiry committee examined the charges and reported various irregularities, including claims of influence peddling and administrative impropriety, and questioned the use of the Banco de Talentos as a cover for political hiring. The case progressed through the city’s processes, with debates over testimonies and evidence.

Post-mayoral notes
A 2021 state Court of Accounts report on the Municipal Department of Water and Sanitation (DMAE) criticized management under Marchezan Júnior, noting conduct that it said harmed service reliability and increased interruptions, along with concerns about budgeting and staffing decisions during his administration.

This summary covers the main points of Nelson Marchezan Júnior’s public career, including his rise in national politics, his tenure as Porto Alegre’s mayor, and the key controversies surrounding his administration.