Bolsonaro: most competitive right-wing presidential candidate for ’26

Former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is ineligible until 2030 and who is facing several accusations of being a coup plotter, appears as the most competitive right-wing candidate for the 2026 elections in Brazil, according to the governor of the state of Minas Gerais (southeast), Romeu Zema, who also defends reversing the former's president ineligibility.

Bolsonaro lost his right to run after being convicted of spreading lies about the voting process in meetings with ambassadors and using, for electoral purposes, the event commemorating the Bicentennial of Independence. “I hope that [Bolsonaro] wins this battle (of the reversal of his ineligibility). There is no name, according to his own investigations, that surpasses his with possibilities of beating the left (at the polls),” Zema told journalist Claudio Dantas.

According to the newspaper O Tempo, since his re-election in 2022, Zema has been sending mixed signals about his relationship with Bolsonarism (Bolsonaro supporters).

During the interview, Zema repeated that he wants to participate in the 2026 electoral process as a candidate or support a more viable name, in addition to working for the election of his successor to the Government of Minas Gerais.

To a question about the options of the right in case Bolsonaro remains ineligible, the governor defended that the field concentrates on a single name, however, he sees difficulty in unity. The Federal Police charged Bolsonaro and 39 others with an attempted coup in 2022.

Judicial circles indicated that the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office on whether or not to charge Bolsonaro and the other defendants with the attempted coup d’état will be known in February.