With the ultra-liberal Argentine head of state Javier Milei as star guest, the Liberal Party held its convention on Saturday July 25 in front of a thousand people, in the megalopolis Sao Paulo, to put 45-year-old senator Flavio Bolsonaro into orbit. “I can be calmer, more smiling, more peaceful and moderate, but that’s where Bolsonaro’s blood flows! “, he said, patting his arm. He had been dubbed by his father (in power from 2019 to 2022) after the latter’s incarceration in 2025, to face President Lula who, at 80, will seek a fourth non-consecutive term.
Reference of a right on the rise in Latin America, Argentine President Javier Milei warned against “the Lula risk” in a fiery speech. Against a backdrop of rock music, he affirmed that Brazil must emerge from “its submission to the leftist”. “We would like our candidate to be Jair Bolsonaro, but today Flavio is the most judicious option,” Fernando Moeno, a 50-year-old retired military policeman, told AFP.
Behind Lula in the polls
Flavio Bolsonaro cried when talking about his father, who appeared in a video made by artificial intelligence. The courts have banned him from speaking publicly since he is serving a twenty-seven-year prison sentence at home. But after a good start, Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son lost momentum. According to a survey published on July 24 by the Datafolha institute, Lula obtained 48% of voting intentions, and he 43%. The bad patch began in May, when an audio message emerged that Flavio Bolsonaro had sent to Daniel Vorcaro, a banker since arrested for vast financial fraud, in order to ask him for money to finance a film about his father.
Another front opened within his family in June, when his mother-in-law Michelle Bolsonaro complained on social networks of a “humiliation” that he had allegedly subjected her to. The former first lady is essential to the conservative camp in attracting voters and the powerful evangelical movement. Thursday, after an apology from her son-in-law, she solemnly granted him her forgiveness and gave him her support in a video on Saturday, as did the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
