Flávio Bolsonaro sought $26.8m from accused banker for father's biopic

Patron saint dispute, Lula family allegations also mark final stretch

A Brazilian senator’s pursuit of $26.8 million from a banker already facing corruption allegations to produce a film about his jailed father emerged in the final days of a polarized presidential campaign, The Guardian reported on the eve of Brazil’s first-round vote. The disclosure is among several campaign-trail controversies that have marked the stretch before Sunday’s vote, in which leftwing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80, is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term against Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, whom The Guardian describes as a far-right senator and ally of Donald Trump.

Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro have alternated as frontrunners in the final stretch, making the outcome unpredictable, with both candidates focused in recent days on persuading undecided voters in hopes of reaching 50% plus one vote; if neither does, there will be a runoff on October 25, according to The Guardian.

The film-finance disclosure, in which Flávio Bolsonaro was recorded seeking money from a banker already facing corruption allegations to produce a film about his father, was one of two controversies that have shadowed his campaign, The Guardian reported. The other was speculation that the senator might strip Brazil’s “widely cherished patron saint” of her status.

“My first choice would be Jair Bolsonaro but, since he is under house arrest and there is no other rightwing candidate strong enough to take on the current president, I’m going with Flávio,” Claudinei Ferreira Viana, 45, a workshop manager in Pinhais, in Paraná state, told The Guardian.

At the beginning of the year, polls suggested Bolsonaro voters would have preferred a ticket led by the São Paulo governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, or the former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, according to The Guardian. But the former president, who is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup after his failed 2022 re-election attempt, chose his eldest son.

For many analysts, Flávio Bolsonaro’s competitiveness reflects a combination of a straightforward transfer of his father’s voter base — Jair Bolsonaro lost to Lula by less than two percentage points in 2022 — and an anti-Lula vote, with the incumbent still facing high rejection rates despite strong social and economic indicators, The Guardian reported.

The Lula campaign has also been hit by corruption allegations, still under investigation, involving his son and a former aide, The Guardian reported. A separate scandal involving supreme court justices, which has no connection to Lula himself, is seen as fueling an “anti-system” vote and, by extension, anti-incumbent sentiment.

The election takes place against a backdrop of rightward political shifts across Latin America. Brazil is one of the few countries in the region that still has a leftwing government, according to The Guardian, which characterized the regional landscape as including the US takeover of Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro. The 80-year-old Lula has positioned himself as one of the last regional leaders still willing to say no to Trump, and has recently accused the US president of trying to interfere in Brazil’s election in Flávio Bolsonaro’s favor.

Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, frequently praises Trump and has pledged to join the US-led anti-drug cartel coalition that has killed dozens in airstrikes and carried out military operations across the region, The Guardian reported. His father, Jair Bolsonaro, was Brazil’s president during Trump’s first term.

AMC, 40, who asked to be identified only by her initials because she fears reprisals from the local conservative government where she works in the interior of Amazonas state, told The Guardian she will vote for Lula “because of the many programmes he created to support the most vulnerable groups.” She added: “Jair Bolsonaro weakened protections for Indigenous peoples, and everything Lula has done over the past four years to strengthen those protections and protect the Amazon would be seriously threatened if his son came to power.”

Sunday’s vote extends well beyond the presidential race. Brazilians will also elect 27 state governors, members of state legislatures, all 513 federal congress members, and 54 of the country’s 81 senators.