The Fort Worth Press - Flavio Bolsonaro: right-wing heir falls from presidential hopeful to exile

Now, he has self-exiled to the United States after a stealthy exit from Brazil that took him via Argentina and Ecuador as the whole country wondered where he was.

The right-wing senator's vision of triumph crumbled after his shock loss in Sunday's run-off election to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Flavio Bolsonaro had beat Lula in a first-round vote, but Lula pulled off a dramatic comeback to win with 52 percent of the votes to his rival's 48 percent.

Bolsonaro was defiant: He refused to concede defeat and vowed to fight the result in the courts.

"I will not give up on my Brazil," he said on Sunday.

He vowed he had no intention of leaving the country as authorities demanded he hand over his passports.

Bolsonaro has maintained close ties to the administration of US President Donald Trump, an ally of his father who described Sunday's election as "rigged."

Bolsonaro arrived in Florida on Wednesday with his two daughters and his wife Fernanda, a dentist.

- 'Blood of a Bolsonaro'-

The 45-year-old senator was little known nationally when he was anointed as the heir to the far-right political movement by his father, who is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after his 2022 election loss to Lula.

But his campaign quickly gained traction, and Flavio, pitching himself as a more jovial, moderate Bolsonaro, fired up his father's base and won over less ideological voters looking for a change.

He never hesitated to remind Brazilians: "I have the blood of a Bolsonaro in my veins."

In the first-round election, he came in ahead of Lula, 47 percent to the incumbent's 45 percent.

No candidate who lost the first round has gone on to win the second in Brazil since 1989, the first direct election after the end of the country's military dictatorship.

However, while Lula's loss jolted the left awake, leading to massive mobilization that carried him to victory, critics say Bolsonaro was overly confident and his allies were already publicly jockeying for government positions.

"I think the victory in the first round was poison for the Flavio Bolsonaro campaign because it generated a sense of, you know, that they already won," Oliver Stuenkel, an international relations professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, told AFP.

Despite his loss, Bolsonaro secured almost 60 million votes in the runoff.

His brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who is also self-exiled in the United States, said before the election: "If my brother does not win, I am in favor that he would leave the country."

Among other investigations, Brazilian police are probing Flavio Bolsonaro for corruption over the financing of the biopic "Dark Horse" about his father, bankrolled by disgraced banker Daniel Vorcaro.

- Haunted by accusations -

Born in Rio de Janeiro state, Flavio Bolsonaro is the eldest of the former president's five children and the one who most resembles him.

He was elected to the Rio de Janeiro state legislature at age 21 and became a senator at age 37. He holds a law degree.

On the campaign trail, Bolsonaro displayed the relaxed Carioca style and language that the city of Rio is known for.

But he has been dogged by accusations over his career.

When he was a Rio legislator, he was accused of taking a portion of his aides' salaries in a kickback scheme, but the case was dismissed.

He has also faced scrutiny over alleged ties to Rio de Janeiro's violent and shadowy militia figures. He has denied any wrongdoing.

P.Grant--TFWP