PL President Waldemar Costa Neto told GLOBO on Friday that Jair Bolsonaro’s word on the presidential succession and the appointment of his son Flavio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) to the Palacio do Planalto will be respected.
– Sure. Flavio told me that our leader had approved his candidacy. Bolsonaro has been said to have spoken. We are together – said PL President, Waldemar Costa Neto.
Flavio told allies this week that his father had chosen him as the group’s presidential candidate in 2026.
This statement came after Flavio visited his father at the Federal Police Control Headquarters in Brasilia, where Bolsonaro is imprisoned.
The information, initially published by the Metrópoles portal, was confirmed to GLOBO by four members of the PL leadership.
According to reports submitted by Flavio to the allies, Bolsonaro called for his son to start acting as a candidate: traveling more, attending events around the country, engaging more directly in the confrontation with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and, above all, organizing state programs.
The reading is that the movement seeks to keep Bolsonaro’s political capital within the family and give the senator the power to reach the 2026 elections competitively.
– Yes, I heard (about Bolsonaro’s decision). “We will respect whatever President Bolsonaro chooses,” said the chamber’s Liberal Party leader, Rep. Sostines Cavalcante (PL-RJ).
The move comes after a public spat between Flavio and former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who won a political dispute over alliances in Ceara. After taking a stand against the convergence of Bolsonaro supporters in the state with former presidential candidate Ciro Gomez, she came under public criticism not only from Flavio, but also from Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) and Carlos Bolsonaro (PL-RJ).
The potential selection of Flavio, if consolidated, represents an important reshaping on the right panel.
Until now, the governor of São Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas (Republicans), has been treated behind the scenes as the most powerful name to head Bolsonaro’s camp.
However, close allies claim that Tarcisio was signaling that he intended to complete his term and did not wish to serve as vice president, opening the way for Bolsonaro to advance an internal plan and express his preference for Al-Bakir. Another point that weighs on the governor is that he is not a family member.
In the former president’s political calculations, Flavio is the only one capable of uniting the Liberal Party at a time of strong regional pressures and leadership competition within the party. Moreover, it will start with relevant programmes: Tarcisio in São Paulo, and Claudio Castro in Rio, have been mentioned as governors capable of providing national support for the candidacy.
This movement is happening as the right tries to regroup for 2026. A wing of the Hizb ut-Tahrir has championed Michelle Bolsonaro as an “unbeatable” name for vice president, especially after the internal victory in Ceará, when she managed to reverse the party leadership’s support for Ciro Gomez. However, according to his allies, Bolsonaro reiterated that he prefers the family candidate and sees his son as more political.
However, the movement is not consensual. An interviewer close to Michel denied that there was any introduction. Those around the former first lady claim that she was not aware of the nomination.