Story
Oct 7, 2026
Temer Backs Flávio Bolsonaro as Both Sides Focus on a Tight Runoff
Michel Temer presents Flávio Bolsonaro as an answer to voters seeking change, while coverage from both political groupings records a closely contested runoff rather than offering competing accounts of the endorsement. The main difference is emphasis: one account places the move in a wider institutional context, while the other centers the first-round result.
Former President Michel Temer has endorsed Flávio Bolsonaro in Brazil’s 2026 presidential runoff against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, casting the PL candidate as a departure from what he called tired political formulas.
Temer said society did not want “repeated formulas and coarse speeches,” but instead wanted “new ideas, new attitudes, new projects and a different path.” He concluded: “Reconnection is Flávio.”1 Both the Brazil Right and Brazil Left coverage present that statement as the core of Temer’s intervention, with neither disputing that he has formally entered the second-round contest on Bolsonaro’s side.
The accounts also agree on the narrow result that produced the runoff. Flávio Bolsonaro led the first round with 47.03%, or 56.1 million votes, against Lula’s 45.16%, or 53.9 million—a margin of roughly 2.2 million votes.2 That shared tally underscores Temer’s argument that voters want change, while also showing how little separates the two candidates heading into the final vote.
The Brazil Right account gives the endorsement a broader political setting. It notes that Temer appointed Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, whose impeachment is a major cause for Flávio Bolsonaro, and reports Temer’s warning that a contentious resolution inside the court would be “terrible for the country.”1 It also says Temer has expressed frustration at being labelled a coup supporter by opponents since Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment.
Online reaction from Bolsonaro supporters was more celebratory than cautious. Commentator Rodrigo Constantino applauded Temer directly and later described Flávio as a potentially “good president,” arguing that his “unifying style” was needed at this moment.
3 Paulo Figueiredo, meanwhile, promoted a purported election-day estimate giving Flávio a 63.2% chance of winning, versus 37% for Lula.
4
Temer’s backing therefore adds a prominent former president to Flávio Bolsonaro’s coalition. But the reporting’s common focus on the close first-round figures suggests that the endorsement arrives in a runoff still defined by a highly competitive electorate.