Flávio Bolsonaro Secures Key Endorsement in Drive for Brazil Presidency

Brazil’s right-wing presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro secured the backing of veteran lawmaker Ronaldo Caiado on Tuesday as he moves to consolidate support from first-round rivals before a tight runoff.

Caiado finished fifth in the Oct. 4 first round with nearly 2.6 million votes, or roughly 2.2% of the total. That support could prove significant in the coming runoff, given that Bolsonaro fell less than three percentage points short of the outright majority needed to win the nation’s top job on Sunday.

“Goias will deliver Flávio Bolsonaro his biggest victory in this election, we will be mobilizing full time supporting him,” Caiado said at a press conference alongside Bolsonaro and newly reelected Sao Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas.

Caiado is a well-established conservative politician who has served as a senator and governor of the state of Goias, an agribusiness powerhouse in central Brazil. He backed Jair Bolsonaro in the 2018 presidential runoff before the two fell out early during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A trained physician, Caiado publicly criticized the former president for downplaying the pandemic and for his handling of vaccine procurement. Brazil went on to record the world’s second-highest official Covid death toll, behind only the US.

During this year’s first-round campaign, Caiado attacked Flávio Bolsonaro over his ties to the jailed former Banco Master SA owner Daniel Vorcaro, his reliance on his father’s political legacy and his lack of executive experience.

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Bolsonaro told reporters earlier Tuesday that he’d met with representatives of Republicanos and Podemos, both key centrist parties that remained neutral in the first round. Freitas, a Republicanos member, is helping Bolsonaro secure the party’s endorsement and has already discussed the matter with its president, Marcos Pereira.

“They’ll now take the discussion back to their parties,” Bolsonaro said, adding that União Brasil and the Progressistas, known as PP, are also discussing whether to back him. “I hope they get back as soon as possible.”

Former Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema, who won 0.27% of valid votes for president, said Monday he would back the right-wing senator, who will face off against incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the Oct. 25 second round.

Rogério Marinho, Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign coordinator, told journalists that the campaign expects to finalize political party endorsements by Thursday.