Jair Bolsonaro backs son’s Brazil presidential bid, undergoes hernia surgery

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro points to his electronic ankle monitor that the Supreme Court ordered him to wear, at Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Minervino Junior, CB/D.A Press, File)

SAO PAULO —  Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro endorsed his son Flavio’s 2026 presidential bid on Thursday in a statement from a hospital where he underwent a scheduled hernia operation that doctors said went smoothly.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorized Bolsonaro to leave prison, where he is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup, for the surgery. Police were ordered to stay outside his room where computers and mobile phones were prohibited.

Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 44, has said he wants to consolidate his father’s conservative legacy at the Oct. 4 vote when he will try to unseat leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

“With the commitment of not allowing the popular will to be silenced, I make the decision to nominate Flavio Bolsonaro as a pre-candidate for the presidency in 2026,” Jair Bolsonaro said in a letter read out by Flavio in front of a hospital in the city of Brasilia where his father was being treated.

The 70-year-old former leader has faced repeated health setbacks since surviving a near-fatal stabbing during the 2018 campaign, undergoing more than half a dozen abdominal surgeries over the years.

Thursday’s operation, which lasted about three hours, was described by his doctor Claudio Birolini as expected and uneventful. Bolsonaro, who is expected to stay 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 targeting his recurring hiccups during his hospital stay, according to Birolini and doctor Brasil Ramos Caiado. The decision on that may be taken after a reassessment of his medical conditions on Monday, they said.

Deemed a flight risk following his conviction, the ex-president was detained in late November and began serving his 27-year sentence three days later.

Flavio Bolsonaro confirmed this month that his father supports his 2026 presidential bid, unsettling markets that had expected the ex-president to favor a more seasoned contender such as Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas.

The cancellation of a planned interview on Tuesday, where Jair Bolsonaro was expected to formalize the endorsement, helped the Brazilian real strengthen nearly one per cent against the dollar.