Members of Bolsonarism with dialogue with Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) and former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro are trying to build an armistice between the two to prevent the crisis from continuing to cause damage to the PL presidential campaign, represented by Flávio. Despite the public disagreement, with exchanges of accusations on both sides, their allies believe that there is a way to try to pacify the group and reduce the unrest.
On Wednesday, Michelle published two videos on social media in which she criticized Flávio. She said she was “mistreated and disrespected” by the PL senator and that he was harsh with her.
The disagreement was motivated by a struggle over the position of the PL in Ceará. Flávio and most of the party’s leadership want to support Ciro Gomes (PSDB) for governor, while Michelle is against.
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The national president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, is one of the main actors trying to broker this solution. He said he will try to talk to Flávio and Michelle to seal an agreement that unites the two in the campaign.
The assessment is that the two need to act in concert to try to build a strong presidential option that can stand up to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
As president of the party, Valdemar is a central figure in Bolsonarism’s strategies in the 2026 elections, both in the presidential dispute and in the strategy of forming a bench in Congress.
Valdemar is close to Michelle and the former first lady has a prominent position in the party structure, as president of PL Mulher. The president of the party even dismissed calls from Flávio’s allies for Michelle to leave office during the height of the crisis, in the first moments after the release of the former first lady’s videos.
At the same time, the PL president also seeks to act in line with Flávio and former president Jair Bolsonaro because he considers that the party’s growth was mainly due to the former president’s popularity.
Senator Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF) is also a central figure in this attempt at an agreement. Despite not being from the PL, she is one of Michelle’s closest parliamentarians and also has a dialogue with Flávio, with whom she is a colleague in the Senate, in addition to the fact that she was her father’s minister.
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According to reports from allies, Damares will talk to Michelle to try to build a rapprochement between her and Flávio.
The senator closely followed the entire development of the crisis and was warned by Michelle more than a week ago about the video recording. Michelle informed her ally of the problem and said she needed to take a stand. She also highlighted that this was part of a political strategy and that it was necessary to mobilize a communications team to smooth out the production of the video.
After the release of the video, Damares believes that an approach is possible.
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— I think that a dialogue is now possible.
Amid the distance and friction, Flávio tries to use a pre-campaign meeting aimed at women next week to try to seal the rapprochement.
Michelle has not yet confirmed her presence, but common allies between the two are trying to make the meeting possible. Flávio sought out Damares herself to help reconcile with his stepmother.
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In parallel, Flávio’s campaign tries to move the ticket’s articulations and seeks something new to overcome the crisis. There is a rush to try to define the name of who will be the senator’s deputy. The preference is for a woman to be chosen.
Representative Bia Kicis (PL-DF) was mentioned this week by Flávio himself as a possibility for vice president. She is a pre-candidate for the Senate for the Federal District and plans to join Michelle’s ticket, who should also be a candidate for the same position, but the parliamentarian has indicated that she will accept being Flávio’s vice-president if called upon.
Kicis has dialogue with the PL leadership, Flávio and Michelle and his pre-candidacy for the Senate is one of the few that gathered the support of these different groups, something not observed, for example, in the case of Ceará and Santa Catarina.
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The deputy assesses that there is a chance for unity between Flávio and Michelle in the election. According to her, this movement is already happening. Flávio’s gestures for a meeting with his stepmother and Michelle’s note in which she says she doesn’t want to “fight with anyone” are seen as signs of relaxation.
