Flavio Bolsonaro visits father under house arrest ahead of Brazil runoff

Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro on Tuesday visited his father Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest and said that the former far-right president was “very happy” with the result of Brazil’s October 4 election where his son placed first.

Flavio Bolsonaro’s visit, authorized by the Supreme Court on Monday, came two weeks ahead of a run-off presidential vote where he faces leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Jair Bolsonaro was convicted of planning a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula and is serving a 27-year sentence at his home in Brasilia.

The former president “is in good spirits, satisfied with the work being done, and hopeful that Brazil will change,” his son told journalists after the visit.

“He is very happy with the election results,” he added.

The court authorized the visit with the proviso that Flavio Bolsonaro does not involve his father in election campaigning.

He spent less than an hour at his father’s residence.

The 45-year-old right-wing senator will face Lula in a runoff on October 25 after obtaining 47 percent of the vote in the first round compared to Lula’s 45 percent.

Jair Bolsonaro, 71, is still considered the leader of his far-right political movement. His image is always front and center at rallies staged by his son, who promises to overturn his father’s conviction if elected.

The younger Bolsonaro had been prohibited from visiting his father since July after reading out a letter from his father on YouTube, despite Jair Bolsonaro being banned from using social media, either directly or through a third party.

Jair Bolsonaro is serving his sentence under house arrest for health reasons stemming from a stab wound he suffered in 2018 during the campaign in which he was elected president.

This month, Brazilians elected a conservative-majority Congress that could pass an amnesty law Flavio Bolsonaro has promised to push for on behalf of his father, as well as for hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters convicted for the storming of government buildings in Brasilia in January 2023.