By Luciana Magalhaes
SAO PAULO, Oct 21 (Reuters) – For right-wing Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro, his biggest strength is also his greatest weakness: the Bolsonaro family name.
While supporters across Brazil consider him a more moderate iteration of his father’s powerful conservative brand, many others view him as a continuation of Jair Bolsonaro’s scorched-earth rule that polarized the nation and culminated in an attempted coup after he lost the 2022 election.
So far, more voters seem willing to test the first hypothesis, with Bolsonaro heading into Sunday’s run-off as the frontrunner against incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
A Bolsonaro victory would shift Brazil sharply rightward after four years of leftist rule, and likely push Latin America’s largest nation closer into the orbit of the United States led by President Donald Trump.
DISSATISFACTION WITH LULA
Flavio’s unexpected candidacy caught both insiders and markets off guard, especially since lingering corruption allegations — which he denies — and a crowded conservative field appeared to complicate his path to the presidency.
But analysts say he has capitalized on growing dissatisfaction with 80-year-old Lula, while also tapping into his father’s conservative coalition of powerful farmers, big business and evangelicals.
Flavio, who is himself a converted evangelical, says that running for president felt like a calling after his father was sentenced to 27 years in prison for coup-plotting, a sentence he is now serving under house arrest.
“I understand that everything happening is God’s plan for our nation,” he told Reuters late last year just after announcing his bid with his father’s blessing.
Murilo Miranda, a 42-year-old physician who attended a recent Bolsonaro rally in Sao Paulo, said Lula had overseen a system of welfare handouts and a bulging bureaucracy that had hindered Brazilian growth and led to endemic corruption.
“They think the state is a father figure that is going to save them,” Miranda told Reuters.
Hermano Silveira, a 51-year-old contractor who was also at the rally, said Flavio was a new political force.
“He is a young guy and we want change,” Silveira said.
RESOLVE HIS FATHER’S LEGAL PROBLEMS
Bolsonaro has sought to acknowledge his father’s missteps in power while tapping into his fervent base. During the first debate with Lula, he recognized his father’s mishandled COVID-19 response, seeking to address a frequent line of attack.
“Healthcare was not an area in which we achieved our best results under President Bolsonaro,” he said. “I make this mea culpa here today.”
However, Bolsonaro has been clear that if he wins, he will quickly resolve his father’s legal troubles.
“I ask God for the opportunity to walk up the ramp of Planalto Palace next year alongside President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, so that he may place the presidential sash across my chest,” he said on the campaign trail.
So far, Bolsonaro has announced only one cabinet choice, naming Claudio Lottenberg, the former head of the private Albert Einstein hospital, as his pick for health minister.
While promising to cut spending, Flavio has also pledged to boost public services and protect social welfare benefits for the population.
(Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes, Editing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
