Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) reinforced, this Tuesday (9), that his pre-candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic in 2026 is “irreversible” and publicly asked that other names on the right align themselves with his project from now on.
The statements were made after a visit to his father, Jair Bolsonaro, detained at the Federal Police Superintendency in Brasília to serve a sentence for a coup d’état.
In the conversation, Flávio reported having updated his father on the political impact of launching his name. According to him, Bolsonaro reacted with enthusiasm. “He was very happy,” he said, adding that he gave the former president the first survey released after the announcement, from the Veritá Institute, which points to a technical tie with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
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“That puts me in a technical tie with the current misgovernment in the country… Contrary to what many people were imagining, meaning that it was an unviable name,” said Flávio.
The Veritá survey shows Flávio with 39.2% of voting intentions against 39.8% for Lula. In valid votes, the PT member appears with 50.4% and the senator with 49.6%, a tie within the margin of error of 2 percentage points.
The picture is different from that presented by Datafolha, released this Saturday (6), in which there is an advantage of 15 points.
Bet on right-wing unity
Flávio reported having met with presidents of parties such as PP, União Brasil and Republicans, and said he had asked for support now. “I was very clear and asked for their support from the first moment”, he stated. According to the senator, the directors expressed initial concern about his performance, but acknowledged that “the name will have traction”.
The pre-candidate said he hopes that traditional allies will walk together even at the start of the dispute. “Once again, I am appealing to the public so that they can walk with us from the beginning,” he stated. P
For him, the union of the right is not only desirable, but inevitable: “Regardless of the form, whether it will be together at the beginning or at the end… We are all aware that Brazil cannot handle four more years of PT”.
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Flávio reiterated his conviction that Lula will be defeated: “Lula is a defeated product. I am convinced that we will remove Lula from the government, because that is the solution for Brazil.”
The senator also praised the role of Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicanos-SP) — considered one of the main names in the Bolsonarist camp — and said that his father followed the governor’s praises on television. “We will be together more than ever,” he said.
Asked about Michelle Bolsonaro, Flávio minimized speculation about disagreements. “My relationship with her has always been the best possible… I count on her a lot among the female public, among the evangelical public”, he said.
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Flávio once again cited the political weight of Bolsonarism, even after his father’s arrest. “Here is a Bolsonaro, and there are Bolsonaro puppies all over Brazil, there are more than 60 million Bolsonaros throughout Brazil,” he stated. “It’s not going to be a pen that’s going to shut us up.”
The senator also commented on the negative reaction of the markets to the announcement of his pre-candidacy, which coincided with the fall of the Stock Exchange and the rise of the dollar. For Flávio, it was not a question of rejection of his name, but of fear about the continuity of the Lula government. “What did the market want to signal with this? Lula’s concern for another four years”, he said.
In the end, he reinforced his message to right-wing parties about his electoral strategy: “It’s up to me to convince them that the best project is to come with us from the beginning”. 
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