Flávio Bolsonaro talks about being a candidate for mayor of Rio – 03/17/2023 – Politics

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) told the Sheet who wants to run for mayor of Rio de Janeiro next year.

The parliamentarian said he had made his name available to the party as an option for the 2024 election, but considers that the decision should be taken together with the political group of which he is a member.

“Today, within the PL, I put my name”, said the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

It is the first time that Flávio admits the plan to run for mayor. The decision, however, still depends on political seams.

In addition to him, Senator Carlos Portinho (PL) presented himself as an alternative to run for mayor and General Walter Braga Netto (PL) is also mentioned.

According to Flávio, licensed deputy Doutor Luizinho (PP-RJ) has already expressed a desire to run for command of the municipality.

“If the election were today, I would plead for this group to support me in my candidacy for mayoralty”, declared Flávio.

According to the senator, the idea is that in a period closer to the election, the most viable name will be analyzed.

“Once again, a decision taken as a group because the name Bolsonaro has a huge expression in Rio de Janeiro. But all the people I spoke to also have votes and have influence with voters. So, if it’s something consensual, certainly we goes to an election with much more chance of success”, he said.

Faced with a scenario of tight competition, left and right parties in Rio have already started negotiating alliances for next year’s municipal election.

In the 2022 election, Bolsonaro beat Lula in the Rio de Janeiro capital by a difference of 5.3 percentage points.

The PT has already made nods to plead for the deputy of Mayor Eduardo Paes (PSD) in 2024, who has his eye on re-election.

Paes’ political movement is cited by Flávio when talking about plans for Rio’s city hall.

“Today my name is there because it has no other name than Eduardo Paes, who positioned himself as a bunker for the [presidente] Squid. Obviously, it is our electoral domicile, but what I always say is the following: this is a construction, any candidacy for the Executive, City Hall, State Government, Presidency is a construction”, said the senator.

According to allies, the president of the PL, Valdemar da Costa Neto, welcomes the name of General Braga Netto, who was a minister and candidate for vice president on Bolsonaro’s ticket in 2022.

As the Panel showed, a differential of the military would be the flag of public safety, which has appeal in Rio de Janeiro.

Also weighing in is the fact that Flávio Bolsonaro, if elected mayor, would have to give up more than two years of his term in the Senate to his alternate, businessman Paulo Marinho. Allied in the 2018 campaign, he is now a foe of the former president.

Braga Netto gained notoriety when he assumed the role of intervenor in the area of ​​public security, in 2018, in the state of Rio de Janeiro – therefore, Valdemar believes that the general would be a bet in the dispute.

The senator will try to unify the right in his candidacy.

Flávio is Bolsonaro’s 01th son. His first election was in 2002, aged 21, for the position of state deputy.

In 2016, he ran for the PSC for Mayor of Rio. But he finished in fourth place, with 14% of the valid votes in Rio.

Two years later, on the wave of Bolsonarism, he was elected senator with almost 4.4 million votes in the state in 2018, equivalent to 31.3% of the valid votes – a wide margin in relation to second place, Arolde de Oliveira, which got 17%.

The senator’s intention to run again for mayor does not have the support of the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro (PL).

Castro won, in February, the dispute with his own party for the presidency of the Legislative Assembly. The governor has shown signs of moving away from Bolsonarism. The arm wrestling match with the party could culminate in his leaving former President Bolsonaro’s acronym.