He has not run for an election since 2008. Still, he holds the purse strings of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which, for the first time, elected the most mayors in the country: 888, or about 15 percent of the total, not to mention its candidates who qualified for a runoff to take place on October 27 in many of the country’s biggest cities.
Despite his immense political clout, Mr. Kassab remains unknown to most Brazilians.