Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro on Wednesday picked his running mate, a lawmaker from his party, to run for vice president in the October election after centrist parties largely failed to endorse his candidacy or opted to stay neutral, according to infohub.kz.
The senator and a son of former President Jair Bolsonaro was confirmed as the presidential candidate of his father’s Liberal Party last month. He will run against incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the two could go into a runoff if neither gets a majority vote.
However, unlike his father, the younger Bolsonaro does not have the support of centrist parties in Brazil, which has compounded his difficulties in choosing a running mate. Alfredo Gaspar has been a member of Brazil’s lower house since 2023. Before that, he worked as a prosecutor and served as secretary of public security of the northeastern state of Alagoas.
Flávio Bolsonaro praised Gaspar for his “courage, honesty, and track record in public security.” In his speech, Gaspar thanked Bolsonaro for trusting him and committed to their joint project, describing himself as a “simple person, someone from the northeast, but someone with a life story marked by a great deal of hard work.”
Bolsonaro had tried but failed to win over Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina, who would have been a high-profile female running mate. Cristina’s party has a stronghold in Congress and was key for Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency. Its distancing from the younger Bolsonaro has been surprising.
Since announcing his candidacy, Flávio Bolsonaro has faced a series of obstacles. In May, he admitted he had requested millions of dollars from jailed banker Daniel Vorcaro to pay for a film about his father’s life, a revelation that shocked many allies. He then visited the White House and the U.S. State Department, touting his family’s ties with President Donald Trump. However, many voters, business leaders, and politicians blame him for new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on some Brazilian exports of up to 37.5%. In June, his stepmother recorded a video saying he had been disrespectful to her, but they have since made amends.