The senator says his father, Jair Bolsonaro, chose him to be Hizb ut-Tahrir’s candidate. The arrest of the former president has exacerbated the dispute between potential names over the right to run in 2026. Senator Flavio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) said on Friday (05/12) that his father, Jair Bolsonaro, had chosen him to be the PL’s candidate for the presidency in 2026.
The former president, who is serving a 27-year-and-3-month prison sentence for an attempted coup, is barred from running in the elections after being found guilty by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE).
Flavio said in a post on the
Flavio visited his father at the Federal Police Control Center in Brasilia last Tuesday. The senator’s allies told the press that Jair Bolsonaro had expressed interest in talks with his son, who would also have been chosen to represent him politically.
The senator criticized the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, saying that the country was going through “difficult days.” “I cannot and will not resign myself to seeing our country go through a period of instability, insecurity and frustration,” he wrote in the post.
The senator continued: “Many feel abandoned, pensioners are being robbed by the government itself, drug terrorists are taking over cities and exploiting workers, state-owned enterprises are being plundered again, new taxes are constantly being created or increased, and our children have no expectations for the future. No one can take it anymore.”
Power vacuum on the right
The trial and arrest of Jair Bolsonaro led to a power struggle between right-wing forces, in the wake of the vacuum left by the absence of the former president. The governor of São Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas (Republicans), was considered the name most capable of defeating Lula’s potential candidacy for re-election next year.
On Friday, the head of the Liberal Party, Waldemar Costa Neto, confirmed Flavio’s announcement as the party’s pre-candidate.
“Confirmed. Flavio told me that our leader (Jair Bolsonaro) has ratified his candidacy. So, if Bolsonaro said it, it’s said. We are together,” he wrote on X.
However, Flavio’s prior candidacy does not enjoy consensus within the party, which is still evaluating his viability as a candidate.
Federal lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), who has also presented himself as a pre-candidate for the presidency, reportedly told his allies that he would support his brother’s candidacy 100%.
Down in searches
Flavio, 44, is Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son. He is a businessman and lawyer. He was a state representative for Rio de Janeiro when he was allegedly involved in the practice that ended up generating the “Rachadinhas” scandal. Later he was elected as a senator for PL. His term ends in 2027.
A poll conducted by the Intel Atlas Institute between November 22 and 27, which simulates a scenario in which Flavio is a presidential candidate, showed him receiving 23.1% of voting intentions in the first round, compared to 47.3% for Lula.
In the same poll, which also simulates the candidacy of Tarciso instead of Flavio, the governor appeared with 32.5% compared to 48.4 for the president.
Rotterdam Convention (OTS)