Brazil’s Flavio Bolsonaro wins third-place candidate’s support against Lula

Right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro on Thursday gained the support of Augusto Cury, the third-place candidate in Brazil's presidential election, bolstering his chances against incumbent leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"My support is not a blank check," Cury said in a statement, after winning nearly three percent of the vote in Sunday's first round of voting, compared to Bolsonaro's 47 percent and Lula's 45 percent. 

Bolsonaro, 45, is the eldest son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest for plotting a coup after losing Brazil's last election in 2022.

Prior to the announcement, the younger Bolsonaro was leading in polls on Thursday, which gave the senator 52 percent compared to Lula's 48 percent, according to the Datafolha institute.

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Lula, 81, downplayed the polls as he sought to secure a fourth term.

"I don't assess polls, I don't work like that. I work knowing that I need to have more votes than Flavio to win the election. I have 17 days to do that," he said at a press conference Thursday.

While Bolsonaro is hoping to bank on his allegiances in the final stretch of the campaign, Lula has been strengthening his presence on social media, where the right has an upper hand.

Thousands of people demonstrated on Thursday in Sao Paulo and other cities against the return of the far right to power in Brazil, a day after a similar march in Rio de Janeiro.

Renan Santos, the fourth most popular candidate with 2.6 million votes, has refused to support either leading candidate.