Symbolic imageBolsonaro family gains strength as Lula retools for Brazil runoff
Flávio Bolsonaro won Sunday's first round with 47.03% to Lula's 45.16%. The runoff is on 25 October.
Conservative gains in Congress strengthen Flávio Bolsonaro's pledge to free his father, Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence for planning a coup and is currently under house arrest on health grounds. According to the Financial Times, the Liberal Party (PL) will raise its Senate seats from 15 to 28, its biggest bench since the 1988 constitution, and hold 121 of 513 lower-house seats. Bia Kicis, elected senator on Sunday, said the party will "vote for amnesty and get the political prisoners out of jail." The FT adds that a centre-right Senate bloc is close to the two-thirds needed to impeach Supreme Court justices.
Lula courts abstainers
At his first campaign meeting after the vote, on Monday, Lula said he would win back the 30 million Brazilians who did not vote, join televised debates he skipped before the first round, and step up the fight against organized crime. He also sharpened his criticism of the Supreme Court. El País notes that no candidate who placed second in a first round has won the final vote since 1985.
Relatives win seats
The Guardian and Le Monde report that four Bolsonaro relatives won office on Sunday: Michelle Bolsonaro and Carlos Bolsonaro as senators, Jair Renan Bolsonaro and Renato Bolsonaro in the lower house.