RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN POLITICAL REPRESENTATION AND RELIGIOUS SUPPORT: A CASE STUDY IN THE 2018 ELECTIONS

ABSTRACT

This article articulates the complex relationship between political representation and religious support during the 2018 elections. From theorists in the field of political and social sciences, it analyzes how the Assembly of God church, in Maranhão, assumed its support for the candidate Jair Bolsonaro, and, on the other hand, how the elected senator from the Assembly, Eliziane Gama, assumes her position in favor of candidate Fernando Haddad. In the case of the senator, we see that the political power of religious organizations is not built nor affirmed in the religious system, but rather in the political system according to the primacy of the logic of seeking and maintaining power. In the context of this primacy of the power struggle, the use of political resources derived from religion may have greater or lesser prominence, according to the importance of other political resources linked to parties or informal political groups, their networks, identities, and semantics.

Keywords:
Political representation; Assembly of God; Eliziane Gama; Bolsonaro; Elections (2018)