Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday endorsed his son Flavio's bid for the 2026 presidential elections, announcing his backing from a hospital bed after the successful completion of a hernia surgery.
"With the commitment of not allowing the popular will to be silenced, I make the decision to nominate Flavio Bolsonaro as a pre-candidate for the presidency in 2026," the former president said in a letter read out by Flavio in front of a hospital in the capital city of Brasilia.
Flavio, currently a Brazilian Senator, had earlier said that he wants to consolidate his father's legacy by unseating current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the presidential polls, scheduled for October 2026.
The 44-year-old senator had also declared earlier this month that his father supports his 2026 bid, a move that surprised many who had 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 endorsement for Flavio in an interview scheduled for Tuesday, which was later cancelled due to his health complications.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro underwent a scheduled hernia operation, which doctors said was completed successfully.
The surgery on Christmas Day was the latest in a long series surgeries for Bolsonaro—since surviving a near-fatal stabbing attack during his presidential campaign of 2018, Bolsonaro has faced repeated health setbacks, undergoing at least half a dozen abdominal surgeries since then, as per news agency Reuters.
Earlier this year in September, Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison after Brazil's Supreme Court found him guilty in a scheme to prevent current President Lula da Silva from taking office.
Despite pleading guilty and claiming to be a victim of political persecution, the former President was arrested and jailed in November, after the Supreme Court declared him a flight risk following repeated attempts at tampering with his ankle monitor. He had been under house arrest since August 2024.
For Thursday's surgery, Bolsonaro secured the Supreme Court's leave and was allowed to undergo the procedure under tight security, with police standing guard outside his room, where computers and mobile phones were also prohibited.
