Flávio Bolsonaro, a Brazilian senator and the eldest son of convicted former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, was formally nominated on July 25 as the Liberal Party's candidate for the presidency, launching a campaign built around his father's political legacy ahead of the October 4 election, in which he will challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers' Party.

The nomination was confirmed at a Liberal Party (PL) convention in São Paulo attended by Argentina's president, Javier Milei, though the party did not name a running mate. Under Brazilian electoral law the ticket must be registered with a vice-presidential candidate by August 15. Should no candidate secure more than 50% of the valid vote in the first round, a run-off will be held on October 25.

In his acceptance speech, the 45-year-old senator said he would "honour" his father's legacy and became emotional as he addressed the former president directly. "May God never allow you to have a father who is persecuted and imprisoned. Dad, I will honour you, and you will place the presidential sash on me next January," he said. He also thanked his wife, Fernanda, and his mother, Rogéria, who joined him on stage.

Flávio Bolsonaro accused the Lula government of having "kidnapped" Brazil and vowed to "liberate the country from this captivity," extending attacks on the president and the Supreme Court that have defined the Bolsonaro family's rhetoric since the elder Bolsonaro's defeat in the 2022 election.

Jair Bolsonaro, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, is serving a sentence of 27 years and three months for attempting a coup after that defeat and is currently under house arrest for health reasons, barred by Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes from making public statements or using social media. The convention nevertheless featured an AI-generated video simulating his image and voice. The recording opened with a disclaimer — "What you are seeing here is not me, this is a simulation of my image and my voice, made with artificial intelligence" — before the simulated Bolsonaro said he had been "imprisoned and silenced by an unjust and arbitrary decision" and asked supporters to welcome "the person I have chosen to succeed me... blood of my blood, my son Flávio."

Electoral law specialist Alberto Rollo told Estadão the recording could face legal challenges, but said the central question would be whether an AI-generated statement counted as a direct political intervention by Jair Bolsonaro himself.

Milei, who received São Paulo state's highest honour, the Order of Ipiranga, ahead of his address, spoke for nearly half an hour, telling the crowd that Brazil's election represented a choice between "liberation" and continued "submission to the left," and warning of a "Lula risk" comparable to what he has termed the "Kuka risk" of Kirchnerism in Argentina. According to AFP, he also branded Lula a "thief," a "convict" and "socialist trash." Estadão reported that the libertarian leader criticised Brazil's Supreme Court for denying him permission to visit "my unjustly imprisoned friend," comparing the case to Lula's own imprisonment more than a decade ago.

Former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who publicly reconciled with her stepson last month following a dispute, did not attend but sent a recorded message of support, saying she had stayed home to care for her husband. She praised Jair Bolsonaro's leadership and called for greater female participation in politics before addressing Flávio directly: "May God bless and protect your candidacy, may He give you and your family wisdom, courage, and strength to fulfil this mission with the loyalty and truth that our people deserve." Her video, shown after the AI recording of her husband, drew criticism and scepticism from some Bolsonaro supporters, according to Estadão. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also appeared briefly by video to offer his endorsement.

Flávio Nantes Bolsonaro was born in Resende, Rio de Janeiro state, on April 30 1981. A lawyer and businessman, he entered politics at 21 and was elected to Rio de Janeiro's state legislature in 2003, serving four consecutive terms before winning a Senate seat in 2018 with 4.38m votes, or 31.36% of the total. He has generally been regarded as the most moderate figure within his family's far-right movement.

That reputation was tested days before the launch, when Flávio Bolsonaro met diplomats from nearly 50 countries and claimed, without evidence, that Brazil's voting machines used technology from Smartmatic, a firm with former ties to Venezuela, urging governments to send international observers to October's vote. Brazil's top electoral court, the TSE, rejected the claims, stating that messages alleging Smartmatic supplied voting machines or software in Brazil were false and that the system was designed and managed entirely by the electoral court. His father made similar claims about the voting system in 2022 without providing evidence and was subsequently barred by the TSE from running for office until 2030.

The candidacy launch follows weeks of declining poll numbers linked to a series of controversies. Prosecutors examined so-called "rachadinha" allegations dating to Flávio Bolsonaro's time in Rio de Janeiro's legislature, in which an aide, Fabrício Queiroz, was found to have received more than BRL2m ($390,000) in hundreds of deposits from other advisers' salaries between 2007 and 2018 — a case dismissed by the courts in 2021. More recently, reports have linked him to Daniel Vorcaro, the former head of Banco Master who is now in custody over an alleged BRL12bn ($2.36bn) fraud, after Vorcaro's bank allegedly financed an autobiographical film about Jair Bolsonaro. He has also faced scrutiny over a 2005 award he gave to Adriano Magalhães da Nóbrega, a militia leader later linked to the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro councillor Marielle Franco. Flávio Bolsonaro recently declined a Federal Police security detail, saying he distrusted its leadership.

A Datafolha poll released on July 23 and cited by Reuters showed Lula maintaining his lead over Flávio Bolsonaro in a hypothetical second-round match-up, ahead by 48% to 43%, compared with a 47-43% margin in a June survey. In a first-round scenario, Lula led with 40% of voting intentions, followed by Flávio Bolsonaro at 32%, Ronaldo Caiado at 4%, and Romeu Zema and Renan Santos at 3% each. Datafolha surveyed 2,004 people on July 22 and 23, with a margin of error of two percentage points. The survey was conducted after Michelle Bolsonaro accused her stepson in June of "disrespecting" her by criticising her role within the party — a rift over which he apologised to her this week — and after Washington announced a 25% tariff on Brazilian goods over an alleged lack of oversight on forced labour practices, a measure the Lula government has rejected as unjustified.

Writing in an opinion column for Estadão, Eliane Cantanhêde noted that the launch took place without several allied parties, including Progressistas, Republicanos and União Brasil, joining the PL's coalition, which will reduce Flávio Bolsonaro's television campaign time and leaves the ticket still without a running mate.

Governor Tarcísio de Freitas of São Paulo, a former potential presidential candidate who joined Flávio Bolsonaro on stage, told the convention that his father's absence was keenly felt. "I know it hurts to know that our president Bolsonaro is not here with us," he said, adding that the former president "delivered a Brazil of hope. That hope is now placed in Flávio Bolsonaro." Days before the convention, PL president Valdemar Costa Neto had questioned the senator's readiness for the race, telling reporters: "He was chosen by [Jair] Bolsonaro and had not previously built the necessary structure or base to aspire to the presidency, but he was selected. Bolsonaro chose Flávio."