This happened due to article 14, §6, of the Constitution, establishing that:To run for other positions, the President of the Republic, the State and Federal District Governors and the Mayors must resign their respective mandates up to six months before the election.

— Article 14, §6, of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brasil[5]Thus, many mayors, wishing to run for other positions, had to resign their mandate until 5 April 2018, starting a new management in such municipalities.

[11][12][13][14] In March 2020, a discussion involving the postponement of the election surrounded the Congress, due to the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil.

[18][19] Federal deputy Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG) filed in a bill to postpone the election to October 2022 and unify all the elections, reduce the term length for senators to four years, ban re-election for executive seats (president, governors and mayors) and increase their term length to five years.

[5]The Municipality will be governed by an organic law, voted in two rounds, with a minimum intersection of ten days, and approved by two-thirds of the members of the City Council, who will promulgate it, in compliance with the principles established in this Constitution, in the Constitution of the respective State and the following precepts: I – election of the Mayor, the Vice-Mayor and the Councilors, for a term of four years, by means of a direct and simultaneous election held throughout the country; II – election of the Mayor and the Vice-Mayor held on the first Sunday of October of the year preceding the end of the mandate of those who must succeed, applying the rules of art.

If, before the second round takes place, death, withdrawal or legal impediment of a candidate occurs, the one with the most votes will be called, among the remainder.

If, in the hypothesis of the previous paragraphs, more than one candidate with the same vote remains in second place, the oldest will be qualified.