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Copyright of Journal Public Administration & Social Management / Administração Pública e Gestão Social is the property of Administracao Publica e Gestao Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article aims to investigate how the political agents and the electoral moment interfere in the efficiency of municipal health system according to perception of the health municipal manager. The study was developed in two steps: (i) quantitative; and (ii) qualitative. In the first step the efficiency of health municipal system was measured by DEA. The second step consisted in the semi-structured interview with health manager of the municipalities that achieved best and worse efficiency levels. The interviews were treated by content analysis. The sample was formed by municipalities of Pernambuco state with population less than 50.000 habitants. For efficiency mensurement, the data were collected in SIOPS and DATASUS databases, relative to year 2015. The results indicated that the councillors helped in health service efficiency by achieving medical appointments and exams in regional and specialized hospitals. However, the councillors harms the health services crushing health municipal management by offer of drugs, exams and health appointments for your voters, out of the flowing and service planning. The municipal manager revealed that there is a social practice to seek benefits by citizens on election moments, when the politicians are more accessible and available to help. These results suggest an electoral political cycle. It was not existence possible to observe differences of political behavior of the councilor and health manager that justify the disparity of efficiency indicators among best and worse municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]