Brazil's Liberal Party has nominated former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro as its Senate candidate for October's elections, positioning the practising evangelical as a key figure to court female voters for the conservative bloc.
The 44-year-old missed her candidacy launch event in Brasília on Sunday after being hospitalised with a severe headache requiring a cranial nerve anaesthetic block. She was discharged the same day. Her absence came amid a public dispute with stepson Flávio Bolsonaro, the party's presidential nominee, whom she accused of disrespect and of saying she "knows nothing about politics." She resigned as head of the party's women's division in June following the falling-out.
Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, steps in as the right's standard-bearer because his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is ineligible and under house arrest after a 27-year sentence for an attempted coup. A Nexus/BTG poll published Sunday showed Lula leading Flávio 46% to 45%, narrowing from a four-point gap a week earlier.