MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro to retire from politics if not reelected

At 67, Bolsonaro said he has nothing left to do in politics if he loses the elections

Brazil's incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro has announced he would retire from politics if he fails to be reelected next month, when, according to all polls, he trails former head of state Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.

Bolsonaro will reach election day (Oct. 2) after opening the United Nations General Assembly following a reception with King Charles III in London scheduled presumably for Sept. 18 ahead of Queen Elizabeth's II funeral, according to Brazilian media.

The president said in a podcast late Monday with evangelists that he would retreat to private life if he fails in October. He apologized for having mocked the victims of COVID-19. “If that is God's will I will continue, but if it is not, I will pass the presidential sash and retire, because with my age I have nothing more to do on Earth if my time in politics ends on December 31. We have the same values, homeland, family, property, and freedom,” he said on the evangelist streaming channel Collab.

According to the latest polls, Lula has 46% of voting intentions and a 15-point lead over Bolsonaro and TV Globo has even hinted Lula might clinch victory in the first round.

Bolsonaro also dismissed comments that he might not accept the elections' outcome after he has repeatedly questioned the electronic ballot boxes in use since 1998.

Bolsonaro also regretted some of his controversial statements during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I went too far. I lost the line, and I regret that,” he admitted. He also apologized for making fun of the victims of COVID-19. “There I messed up, it is common among men to talk that when a child is going to be born we say if it will be a consumer or supplier, a joke among men, but I don't talk about those things anymore, my behavior changed, the presidential chair is an apprenticeship,” he added.

However, he still defended his government's actions promoting the use of unproven drugs to fight the disease.