Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro backed his son Flavio’s 2026 presidential bid on Thursday, announcing his support from his hospital bed after successfully completing hernia surgery.
“With the commitment that I will not allow the popular will to be silenced, I decide to nominate Flavio Bolsonaro as a pre-candidate for the presidency in 2026,” the former president said in a letter that Flavio read outside a hospital in the Brazilian capital.
Flavio, currently a Brazilian senator, has previously said he wants to cement his father’s legacy by ousting current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in presidential elections scheduled for October 2026.
The 44-year-old senator also said earlier this month that his father was backing his 2026 bid, a move that surprised many who expected the former president to back a more seasoned candidate than his son.
Bolsonaro’s health complications
The former Brazilian president was expected to formalize his support for Flavio in an interview scheduled for Tuesday, which was later canceled due to his health complications.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro underwent a planned hernia operation, which doctors say was successfully completed.
The Christmas Day operation was the latest in a long series of surgeries for Bolsonaro — since he survived a near-fatal stabbing attack during his 2018 presidential campaign, he has faced recurring health problems and since then has undergone at least half a dozen abdominal surgeries, according to Reuters.
Earlier this year in September, Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison after Brazil’s Supreme Court found him guilty of plotting to prevent current President Lula da Silva from taking office.
Despite pleading guilty and claiming he was the victim of political persecution, the former president was arrested and jailed in November after the Supreme Court declared him a flight risk after repeated attempts to tamper with an ankle monitor. He has been under house arrest since August 2024.
For Thursday’s operation, Bolsonaro secured leave from the Supreme Court and was able to undergo the procedure under tight security, with police standing guard outside his room, where computers and mobile phones were also banned.
