Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro today endorsed his son Flavio's 2026 presidential bid, in a statement from the hospital where he underwent a planned hernia operation, which doctors said went without complications, Reuters reports.
Supreme Court Judge Alexandra de Moraes granted Bolsonaro permission to leave prison, where he is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup, to perform the surgery. Police were ordered to remain outside his room, where computers and mobile phones were banned.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 44, said he wants to solidify his father's conservative legacy in the October 4 vote, when he will try to unseat leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
"With the obligation not to allow the will of the people to be silenced, I make the decision to nominate Flavio Bolsonaro as a candidate for president in 2026," Jair Bolsonaro said in a letter that Flavio read outside the hospital in Brasilia, where his father was being treated.
The 70-year-old former leader has faced recurring health problems since surviving a near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 campaign, and has had multiple abdominal surgeries over the years.
Thursday's surgery, which lasted about three hours, was described as expected and without unforeseen events, said his doctor, Claudio Birolini. Bolsonaro, who is expected to remain in the hospital for five to seven days, was already in his room and awake, the doctor told reporters.
The former president could also undergo a separate medical procedure during his hospital stay for recurring hiccups, according to Birolini and Brazil's doctor Ramos Cajado. A decision on that could be made after a reassessment of his health on Monday, they said.
Assessed as a flight risk after his conviction, the former president was detained in late November and began serving a 27-year sentence three days later.
Flavio Bolsonaro confirmed this month that his father supports his presidential bid in 2026, unsettling markets that had expected the former president to favor a more experienced candidate, such as Sao Paulo Governor Tarquisio de Freitas.
The cancellation of a planned interview on Tuesday, in which Jair Bolsonaro was expected to formalize his support, helped the Brazilian currency, the real, strengthen by almost one percent against the dollar.
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