RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro on Wednesday picked his running mate, a lawmaker from his party who will run for vice president in the October election after centrist parties largely failed to endorse his candidacy or opted to stay neutral in the race. The senator and a son of former President Jair Bolsonaro was confirmed as the presidential candidate of his father’s Liberal Party last month. He will run against incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the two could go into a runoff if neither gets a majority vote.But unlike his father, the younger Bolsonaro does not have the support of centrist parties in Brazil from which a vice-presidential candidate would have been expected. That lack of support has compounded his difficulties in choosing a running mate.Alfredo Gaspar has been a member of Brazil’s lower house since 2023. Before that, he worked as a prosecutor and served as secretary of public security of the northeastern state of Alagoas.
“He is someone I’ve come to admire, and everyone here has come to admire him as well – for his courage, his honesty, and his track record in public security,” Flávio Bolsonaro said.In his speech, Gaspar thanked Flávio Bolsonaro for trusting him and committed to their joint project, describing himself as a “simple person, someone from the northeast, but someone with a life story marked by a great deal of hard work.”
