Overview
- Flávio Bolsonaro was formally chosen as the Partido Liberal (PL) presidential candidate at the party congress in São Paulo on Saturday, July 25, and will face the incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the October vote.
- Argentina’s president Javier Milei attended the PL event and publicly backed Flávio, giving the candidacy visible regional support that ties Brazil’s right to allied leaders in Latin America.
- Organizers screened an AI-generated video of jailed Jair Bolsonaro denouncing his imprisonment at the congress, illustrating how the campaign is using synthetic media to project the former president’s voice despite his prison sentence.
- Recent Datafolha polling reported in the coverage shows Lula with a narrow lead over Flávio (about 48% to 43% in the cited figures), and the Workers’ Party is expected to formally nominate Lula in August ahead of the October 4 first round.
- Jair Bolsonaro’s September conviction for plotting a coup and his 27-plus year prison sentence remain central to the race because they limit his direct role while keeping his base and party machinery politically active, a dynamic that could affect turnout, messaging, and conservative unity through the campaign.