| Comte Bittencourt | |
| Office: | Cidadania National President |
| Term Start: | 9 September 2023 |
| Predecessor: | Roberto Freire |
| Office1: | State Secretary of Education of Rio de Janeiro |
| Term Start1: | 25 September 2020 |
| Term End1: | 3 June 2021 |
| Governor1: | Wilson Witzel Cláudio Castro |
| Predecessor1: | Pedro Fernandes Neto |
| Successor1: | Alexandre Valle |
| Office2: | Member of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro |
| Term Start2: | 1 February 2003 |
| Term End2: | 1 February 2019 |
| Constituency2: | At-large |
| Office3: | Vice Mayor of Niterói |
| Term Start3: | 1 January 2017 |
| Term End3: | 11 December 2017 |
| 1Blankname3: | Mayor |
| 1Namedata3: | Rodrigo Neves |
| Predecessor3: | Axel Grael |
| Successor3: | Paulo Bagueira |
| Term Start4: | 1 January 2005 |
| Term End4: | 1 January 2009 |
| 1Blankname4: | Mayor |
| 1Namedata4: | Godofredo Pinto |
| Predecessor4: | Godofredo Pinto |
| Successor4: | José Vicente Filho |
| Office5: | Member of the Municipal Chamber of Niterói |
| Term Start5: | 1 January 1993 |
| Term End5: | 1 February 2003 |
| Constituency5: | At-large |
| Birth Name: | Plínio Comte Leite Bittencourt |
| Birth Date: | 2 March 1957 |
| Birth Place: | Rio de Janeiro, Federal District, Brazil |
| Party: | Cidadania (2001–present) |
| Otherparty: | PSDB (1988–2001) |
| Profession: | Teacher |
Plínio Comte Leite Bittencourt (born 2 March 1957) is a Brazilian politician. He is affiliated with Cidadania, of which he is the current president.[1] He served as a councilman and as vice-mayor of the city of Niterói. He later became the Secretary of Education for the state of Rio de Janeiro from 2020 to 2021. He was a vice-gubernatorial candidate for the 2018 Rio de Janeiro gubernatorial election, with Eduardo Paes as the gubernatorial candidate, losing to Wilson Witzel and Cláudio Castro.
During his time as a state deputy, Bittencourt presided over the Education Commission of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro.[2] He is the state president of Cidadania in Rio de Janeiro.[3] He was vice-mayor of Niterói during the mayoralty of of the Workers' Party (PT).[4] He was elected again as a state deputy in 2014 with 36,155 votes.[5]
He was selected as vice-mayoral candidate, with Rodrigo Neves as mayor, due to the barring of provisional vice-mayor candidate Axel Grael by the regional Elections' Court. They were elected to their respective offices, with Neves being reelected as mayor. Due to his belief of the city needing a strong representative at the state legislative assembly in order to better address crises at the state level, he resigned from being vice-mayor in order to return being a state deputy.[6] [7] He continued to hold that position until 2019.
On 5 August 2018, in an announcement made during a conference at the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, with representatives from both Cidadania (then called the PPS) and the Democratas,[8] Bittencourt announced he was running to be vice-governor of Rio de Janeiro, with Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes as the gubernatorial candidate.[9] Cidadania later confirmed their support for the ticket, which would go on to reach second place, losing to the ticket led by Witzel and Castro.[10]
Bittencourt served as the State Secretary of Education after Pedro Fernandes Neto was dismissed from the position. Bittencourt's official nomination occurred on 25 September 2020,[11] invited by then-interim governor Cláudio Castro (PSC).[12] [13] He assumed the position during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which discussions of school students returning to classes in-person was high in the public consciousness.[14] He left the position in less than a year, being replaced by in 2021.[15]
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