MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Michelle and Flávio Bolsonaro appear together for the first time since their June rift

“We have set our disagreements aside. What family is perfect? Let anyone without family problems raise their hand,” the former first lady said at the end of the event

Brazil's former first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party's presidential candidate, appeared together in public on Tuesday for the first time since the falling-out between them in late June. The meeting took place at the party's headquarters in Brasília, where they recorded campaign material and prayed together.

“We have set our disagreements aside. What family is perfect? Let anyone without family problems raise their hand,” the former first lady said at the end of the event. She added that both had put their differences behind them to unite “in favor of something much greater,” and confirmed she will take part in the campaign. “He can count on me on social media and he can count on the strength of women spread across Brazil,” she said.

The dispute erupted in late June, when Michelle Bolsonaro released a video accusing her stepson of mistreating and humiliating her over internal party matters, leaving her support for his candidacy in doubt. “They treat me as if I were an idiot. As if I had arrived yesterday,” she said at the time. Flávio Bolsonaro posted an apology video in July inviting her to join the campaign, and she responded positively, although they had not appeared together in public until Tuesday.

The former first lady heads PL Mulher, the Liberal Party's women's wing, and her backing is considered significant among evangelical and female voters. On August 2 she was nominated as a Senate candidate for the Federal District, at a convention she was unable to attend because of a hospitalization; her brother read the speech she had prepared.

The reunion comes four days before the official start of campaigning for October's elections. Flávio Bolsonaro has not secured alliances with the parties of the so-called Centrão and is competing for conservative voters with former governor Ronaldo Caiado, governor Romeu Zema and political figure Renan Santos.

Polls differ in scale but agree in placing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking re-election, ahead. A Datafolha survey from mid-July gave him 48% against the senator's 43% in a potential runoff; later measurements cited by international agencies put the two at 44% and 39% respectively.

Jair Bolsonaro, Michelle's husband and Flávio's father, is under house arrest after being sentenced to 27 years for attempting a coup. He is barred from holding public office, has appealed the ruling and is seeking a legislative pardon.

Lula will open his campaign at the stadium in São Bernardo do Campo, in greater São Paulo, where he was a union leader. Flávio Bolsonaro will do so at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.