Flávio Bolsonaro's first-round lead in Brazil alarms climate and forest campaigners
The far-right candidate won 47% of the vote ahead of an Oct. 25 runoff against Lula, whose government nearly halved Amazon deforestation.
Far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro won 47% of the vote in the first round of Brazil's presidential election, putting him ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won 44.2%, before an Oct. 25 runoff that climate campaigners fear could reverse gains in protecting the Amazon.
Lula's government has cut Amazon deforestation by almost 50%. Under Bolsonaro's father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation rose 59.5% over four years. Jair Bolsonaro is now imprisoned for plotting a coup, and his son has promised to free him.
As a lawmaker, Flávio Bolsonaro backed a 2019 bill to end requirements that Amazon landowners preserve part of their native vegetation, and his platform does not address the climate crisis, the Guardian reported. Bolsonaro allies now control seven of the nine states in the Brazilian Amazon.
Candidates who campaigned on protecting the forest also fared poorly. Former Environment Minister Marina Silva lost a Senate race, and only two of 57 Indigenous candidates won seats.
No first-round leader has ever lost a runoff in a Brazilian presidential election, though Lula could still gain ground among the millions who backed neither candidate.
This brief is based on an analysis by Jonathan Watts, published Oct. 7, 2026, in the Guardian. Read the original: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/07/flavio-bolsonaro-advance-brazil-election-jolt-climate-campaigners
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
