Flavio Bolsonaro tests staying power of his father's legacy in Brazil presidential race
EWZ•Senator Flavio Bolsonaro is polling neck and neck with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ahead of Brazil’s October 4 presidential election. His campaign has pledged tax cuts and fiscal adjustment, but faced backlash over funding for a film about his father.
1. A close presidential race
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, is seeking to succeed his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, as Brazil’s leading right-wing candidate. He is polling neck and neck with Lula, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term. Jair Bolsonaro passed the political mantle to his eldest son while serving a 27-year sentence for a failed coup plot.
2. Economic platform and allies
Flavio Bolsonaro has pledged tax cuts and an aggressive fiscal adjustment to lower long-term borrowing costs. The platform has pleased business leaders and investors, though economists say it lacks specifics. He also met with U.S. President Donald Trump, but polls showed Brazilians blamed the Bolsonaros more than Lula for U.S. tariffs on Brazilian imports.
3. Campaign funding probe
An investigation revealed that Bolsonaro had asked disgraced banker Daniel Vorcaro for money to fund a Hollywood biopic about his father. Contracts outlined $12 million in transfers from a fund connected to Vorcaro to a U.S. fund managed by an attorney representing Bolsonaro’s brother, Eduardo. Flavio Bolsonaro acknowledged the banker funded the movie but denied wrongdoing; Brazil’s Federal Police opened an investigation into him in July over alleged corruption, money laundering and illicit capital flight linked to the project.
