Right-wing populist incumbent Jair Bolsonaro was nominated by his party on Sunday as a candidate for the October presidential elections.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro is campaigning for re-election.
(dpa)
Brazil’s head of state, Jair Bolsonaro, has been officially named his party’s candidate for the presidential elections in early October. The 67-year-old only joined the Liberal Party at the end of last year in order to be able to take part in the election at all. On Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, the party nominated General and former Defense Minister Walter Souza Braga Netto as its vice-presidential candidate.
According to polls, right-wing populist Bolsonaro is well behind leftist ex-president Lula, who was nominated as the PT candidate in São Paulo on Thursday. Bolsonaro is hoping for a tailwind after Congress allowed the government to spend more on social spending in the election year. In addition, Bolsonaro sows doubts about the Brazilian electoral system.
A candidate for the presidency cannot run without a party in the largest country in Latin America. Bolsonaro was elected as a member of the right-wing Partido Social Liberal in 2018. The founding of his own party after he left in 2019 did not go beyond the phase of collecting signatures.
Parties and alliances have until August 15 to register their candidates with the Supreme Electoral Court. From August 16, election campaigns in Brazil are officially allowed.