Eight of the ten municipalities with the highest abstention in 2026 are in Minas Gerais

Eight of the ten municipalities with the highest rates in the first round of 2026 are in Minas Gerais. Rio Vermelho leads with 40.09%, but registered a drop compared to the previous election.

By Camila da Silva

'Santinhos' on the sidewalk of a polling place in Teresina - 2026 Elections in Piauí — Photo: Gil Oliveira/TV Clube

Rio Vermelho (MG) records the highest abstention rate in the first round of the 2026 elections: 40.09% of voters did not attend the polls, according to data from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) consulted by g1. There were 4,079 absentees in the city in this Sunday's vote (4).

The city also had the highest rate in the first round of 2022, when the rate reached 40.56%. When comparing the two elections, there was a drop of almost half a percentage point.

Eight of the ten cities with the highest abstention rates in 2026 are in Minas Gerais. The other two are Anhanguera, in Goiás, and Barcelos, in Amazonas.

🔎 Abstention is failure to attend the polls. The ranking considers the proportion of absentees in each city, and not the absolute number of people who failed to vote.

See the ten highest rates and the comparison with 2022:

Rio Vermelho (MG): 40.09% in 2026, compared to 40.56% in 2022: drop of 0.47 percentage points.

Santo Antônio do Itambé (MG): 39.55% in 2026, compared to 40.39% in 2022: drop of 0.84 percentage points.

Serra Azul de Minas (MG): 38.71% in 2026, compared to 36.73% in 2022: increase of 1.98 percentage points.

Santa Maria do Suaçuí (MG): 37.72% in 2026, compared to 36.26% in 2022: increase of 1.46 percentage points.

Chapada do Norte (MG): 37.25% in 2026, compared to 38.40% in 2022: drop of 1.15 percentage points.

Anhanguera (GO): 37.11% in 2026, compared to 26.61% in 2022: increase of 10.50 percentage points.

Jenipapo de Minas (MG): 37.08% in 2026, compared to 37.64% in 2022: drop of 0.56 percentage points.

Barcelos (AM): 36.70% in 2026, compared to 35.97% in 2022: increase of 0.73 percentage points.

Novo Cruzeiro (MG): 36.46% in 2026, compared to 39.34% in 2022: drop of 2.88 percentage points.

Materlândia (MG): 36.33% in 2026, compared to 37.10% in 2022: drop of 0.77 percentage points.

🔄 All ten cities have 100% of the sections cleared. The national ranking may still change with the conclusion of the investigation in the other municipalities.

What has changed since 2022

Despite concentrating the highest abstention rates in 2026, six of the ten cities recorded a drop compared to 2022. There was an increase in the other four.

Anhanguera (GO) had the biggest increase among the municipalities on the list: it went from 26.61% to 37.11%, a difference of 10.50 percentage points. The number of absentees rose from 327 to 645.

There was also growth in Serra Azul de Minas (MG), of 1.98 percentage points; Santa Maria do Suaçuí (MG), 1.46 points; and Barcelos (AM), 0.73 points.

In the opposite direction, Novo Cruzeiro (MG) had the biggest reduction among the ten cities: the rate fell from 39.34% to 36.46%, a difference of 2.88 percentage points. The total number of voters who did not vote increased from 9,775 to 9,102.

Rio Vermelho (MG) and Santo Antônio do Itambé (MG) maintained, respectively, the first and second positions in the 2022 ranking, even with the reduction in indices.

🔎 Five municipalities appear in the top ten in both elections: Rio Vermelho (MG), Santo Antônio do Itambé (MG), Chapada do Norte, (MG), Jenipapo de Minas (MG) and Novo Cruzeiro (MG)🔎.

How the comparison was made

g1 crossed municipal data from the 2026 count with the results base from the first round of 2022 made available by the TSE.

For 2022, the presidential election records were considered, with the sum of absentee and eligible voters from the electoral zones of each municipality. The rate was calculated by dividing the total number of abstentions by the eligible electorate, multiplied by 100.

The ranking was ordered by rates from 2026. The comparison shows how the index has changed in the same cities since 2022.