MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian Socialists target Bolsonaro's campaign from abroad

Speeches and celebrations as President give the incumbent leader tools not available to the other contenders, the TSE has found, so Bolsonaro makes strategic moves through the First Lady

Socialist leaders have requested Brazil's Judiciary to ban President Jair Bolsonaro's appearance in London at Queen Elizabeth's funeral as part of his campaign ahead of the Oct. 2 elections.

Bolsonaro has already been banned from using his Sept. 7 (Independence Day) speech for the same purposes (Read also: https://en.mercopress.com/2022/09/12/bolsonaro-not-allowed-to-use-independence-day-celebrations-for-political-gain )

In the meantime, while Bolsonaro trails former President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva by more than ten percentage points according to all polls, the figure of First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro is helping the incumbent head of state narrow the gap, it was reported.

Jair Bolsonaro has lowered his tone when addressing feminist issues not exactly out of personal belief but because of the importance of the vote of women, who largely support Lula. They account for 53% of the constituency and only 19% would endorse the former Army captain.

The president's wife has thus upped her profile, appearing regularly in campaign events and in campaign spots, perhaps more than Electoral Law allows. And she is better known than Lula's new wife Janja.

Bolsonaro, who had always identified himself as a Catholic, has allowed himself to be baptized in the waters of the Jordan River as an evangelical, a church he began to attend after marrying Michelle, a fervent evangelical.

With every vote counting, Bolsonaro is expected to go the extra mile. Brazil's Superior Electoral Court has ruled that the use of images of official celebrations gave the candidate already in office resources not available to any other contender. Bolsonaro's message before the 77th UN General Assembly scheduled for Tuesday also falls in this category.