With presidency in sight, Brazil's far-right candidate on 'cruise control'

[October 17, 2018]  By Ricardo Brito and Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian far-right presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro and his team are increasingly confident of winning this month's election, and have switched on "cruise control" as they seek to glide to victory, top campaign sources say.

Bolsonaro has opened up a sizeable opinion poll lead over his leftist rival, Workers Party candidate Fernando Haddad, ahead of the Oct. 28 run-off vote, and is now seeking to avoid pitfalls and ride to the presidency on a wave of anger over graft, rising violence, and a weak economy.

Bolsonaro, who is still recovering from a near-fatal stab wound received on the campaign trail, will skip presidential debates and avoid campaigning, his would-be chief of staff, Congressman Onyx Lorenzoni, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Lorenzoni said the debates were pointless and made no difference to his candidate's commanding lead in the race.

Bolsonaro has previously suffered in the polls after debate appearances, where his relative lack of expertise on economic matters was shown up under tough questioning. His poll numbers have increased since his stabbing on Sept. 6, which some attribute to his lower profile as he recovers.

In recent days, with victory ever-closer, Bolsonaro has ordered his team to step back from the limelight to avoid making public declarations that could hurt him in the final few days of the race, campaign sources told Reuters.

Luciano Bivar, a federal congressman and founder of Bolsonaro's Social Liberal Party (PSL), said it was the right strategy.

"It's a very important moment for Brazilian society, and we all need to be very careful," he said. "Today, the PSL is a protagonist on the political scene and we all have to be responsible."

Earlier in the campaign, Bolsonaro was forced onto the defensive as his vice-presidential pick, retired General Hamilton Mourao, and his economic advisor, Paulo Guedes, made blunders over potential policies.

Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro is pictured during a news conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 11, 2018. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

Bolsonaro's hands-off strategy poses a major problem for Haddad, who faces an uphill battle to unify opposition to the poll-leader and needs to add luster to the damaged brand of the PT which ran Brazil for 13 of the last 15 years and is blamed by many for the country's woes.

The party's founder, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is in jail after a corruption conviction, and as Lula's hand-picked candidate, Haddad is struggling to escape the shadow of a figure who is loved and loathed by many in Brazil.

Bolsonaro, 63, a seven-term congressman who openly defends Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship, is pitching himself as the anti-establishment candidate and appealing to voters fed up with the political corruption and violent crime.

In response to attacks by Bolsonaro on Twitter on Tuesday, Haddad replied by urging his rival to debate him face to face. The former army captain replied by suggesting Haddad could soon join Lula in jail.

Bolsonaro has run an unorthodox campaign, relying on social media and grass roots rallies that have won him legions of fans who delight at his sharp words and Twitter putdowns.

Nonetheless, polls show he is also widely disliked by many in the electorate who have been alienated by years of his misogynist, racist and homophobic comments.

(Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; editing by Clive McKeef)

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