Brazil’s 2026 elections: Who is Flávio Bolsonaro, the jailed “more moderate” son of the ex-president who challenged Lula? | Today’s news

Flávio Bolsonaro heads into the second round of Brazil’s election, buoyed by significant gains in Congress. The right-wing senator finished two percentage points ahead of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday.

Brazil voted in the first round of its presidential election on October 4 with an incumbent Lula da Silva he won 45% of the vote against 47% for Flavio Bolsonaro.

Read also | Brazil poll: Lula vs Bolsonaro – How the next leader could shape relations with the US and China

Flávio Bolsonaro inherited his father, the far-right jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro’s surname and powerful political base. Bolsonaro senior was sentenced to 27 years for plotting a coup after losing his 2022 re-election bid against his nemesis Lula da Silva.

Jair Bolsonaro he won the 2018 election and rejected the poll results in 2022 after losing to Lula. Unable to run for office, he chose his eldest son, Flávio, to face Lula in the country’s general election this month.

In the first round of voting on Sunday, Flávio beat expectations, winning 47% of the vote to Lula’s 45%. With no candidate receiving more than half of the vote, the election will go to a second round on October 25, when Lula will face an uphill battle to secure a fourth term and cement his legacy.

Flávio, 45, was little known throughout the country before his imprisoned father anointed him as his political heir. But he struggled to break out of his father’s shadow, the AFP news agency reported.

Flavio’s two-point lead on Sunday came despite a campaign marred by scandal and corruption investigations. He describes himself in interviews as a “more moderate Bolsonaro” but says his father will always be “my compass, my point of reference”.(Economist)

Flavio’s two-point lead on Sunday came despite a campaign marred by scandal and corruption investigations. He describes himself in interviews as a “more moderate Bolsonaro” but says his father will always be “my compass, my point of reference”.

“I know I look like him. But it’s hard to compare Pele’s son with Pele,” he said at a rally in Rio de Janeiro, as quoted by news agencies.

Read also | Brazil’s election: Why Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro are heading for a second round

Although Jair Bolsonaro’s outrageous style is controversial, it has fired up the right and helped him move from fringe lawmaker to president in 2018.

Despite his absence under house arrest, Bolsonaro Sr.’s legacy loomed large over the campaign. “I would like to have Jair on the ballot. Since Jair is not there, I will go with Flavio,” Marco Antonio da Rosa, a 21-year-old law student, told AFP at the rally in Rio.

“I overeduated him”

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Flávio Bolsonaro is the oldest of the former president’s four sons and the one who most closely resembles his father. Graduated in law, Flávio became a state legislator in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 21 and a senator at the age of 37.

The father of two daughters cultivates the image of a dedicated family man. The key slogan of his campaign is “come with faith”. During the campaign, he showed the relaxed Carioca style and language that the city of Rio is known for.

Flávio often wears jeans and a t-shirt with the targeted slogan: “The Amazon is ours” to emphasize Brazil’s sovereignty over the rainforest.

In videos on the Internet, Flávio doesn’t shy away from tearing up or losing his cool when he talks about his father’s plight or what he sees as persecution by the courts against his family. In one video, which shows the family’s busy morning at home, his dentist wife Fernanda takes credit for being gentler than his father, joking: “I over-educated him.”

Accusations of corruption

In September, it was revealed that Flavio Bolsonaro was under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering in connection with the financing of the biopic “Dark Horse” about his father.

The film was financed by banker Daniel Vorcaro, who was imprisoned in a multimillion-dollar fraud case.

Flávio Bolsonaro initially denied any contact with Vorcar or flying his private jet. He was forced to confess to both after leaks from the investigation showed them to be true. He also became embroiled in a family feud with his stepmother, former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who posted a video on Instagram saying that Flavio Bolsonaro “disrespected me and mistreated me.”

A pedestrian walks past defaced posters of US President Donald Trump and Liberal Party (PL) presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro, one day after general elections led to a presidential runoff between Bolsonaro and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT), in Sao Paulo, Brazil, October 5, 2026. (REUTERS)

Michelle Bolsonaro accepted a public apology from Flavio Bolsonaro, but did not attend any of his rallies.

In an earlier scandal when he was a lawmaker in Rio, Flavio was accused of participating in a kickback scheme in which he took part of his assistants’ salaries, but the case was dismissed.

Flávio, an advocate of crime, praised Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s controversial security policies and called for the construction of “many, many prisons” in Brazil.

He embraces slick AI-generated ad campaigns on social media, often featuring him in a flight suit and pilot’s goggles while piloting a fighter jet on a mission to Brazil. In one, he leans out of a window and shoots drug dealers on a ship.

“Compared to his father, he is more amiable and polite … but that does not mean he is not ideologically far-right,” political scientist Thomas Traumann said.

Are Brazilians bored by Lula?

All signs point to the victory of Flavius, The Economist reported.

Since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985, no candidate who lost in the first round has won a second round. The other candidates in the race, who received nearly 8% of the vote, lean to the right.

In Minas Gerais, Brazil’s most important swing state and the country’s messenger, Flávio won by five percentage points. Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party more than doubled its seats in the Senate to 28 out of 81. It also consolidated its position as the largest party in Brazil’s notoriously fractured lower house. Almost none of Lula’s allies won new seats in the Senate or the governorship.

Brazilians are tired of Lula, the Economist reported. At 81, Lula is serving his third term. His Workers’ Party (PT) has been in power for 18 of the last 24 years.

Lula, a former union leader from Brazil’s impoverished interior, has failed to connect with younger Brazilians, a report says. The PT remains marred by two gigantic corruption scandals that erupted during his previous terms. One investigation is over Lula in prison for corruption for 1.5 years, although his conviction was overturned in 2021.

Read also | Who is Ilgiz Tantashev? The Uzbek is tasked with officiating in a friendly between India and Brazil

Voters in Brazil are also unhappy with the state of the economy. Many voters have not forgiven the PT for the disastrous recession under Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s successor, in early 2010, the Economist reported.

In Lula’s third term, the government’s wasteful policies eroded fiscal credibility. Interest rates have skyrocketed, raising the cost of debt for households, businesses and the government. Despite moderate growth in real incomes and record low unemployment, a sense of stagnation prevails.

I know I look like him. But it is difficult to compare Pele’s son with Pele.

“It’s not a kilo of meat.” value already a day’s work,” Maria Moura, a 22-year-old housewife from Rio de Janeiro, told the Economist.

“The bills just keep growing and the debt just keeps growing.

(With input from agencies and the Economist)