The former first lady of Brazil, Michelle Bolsonaro, has decided not to get involved in the electoral campaign of Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, after the strong political and personal disagreement they have had in recent weeks, as explained by the president of the Liberal Party (PL), Valdemar Costa Neto.
"I think she doesn't want to participate," Neto pointed out, detailing that Michelle is considering leaving the leadership of the PL's women's branch and even renouncing her possible candidacy for the Senate in the general elections scheduled for October.
"She told me she wants to leave the party leadership (...) She has done a job in PL Mujer that I don't know if another woman would be capable of doing," highlighted the PL leader in an interview with Rádio Gaúcha, cited by G1.
Despite this distancing, Neto insisted that the clash between Michelle and the former president's firstborn would already be on track. "Flávio is leading the campaign, Michelle decided to leave the leadership of PL Mujer and we are moving on with our lives," he stated after meeting with the pre-candidate this Wednesday.
The previous week, Michelle released two videos on social media in which she denounced being "humiliated" and "mistreated" by Flávio, after he asked her to remain in a secondary role in the party's decisions for the upcoming elections, claiming that she "didn't understand anything about politics."
"I understood that he didn't want my support, or that he considered it insignificant (...) Now my priority is not candidacies, my priority is to take care of my family, of my husband who needs me," stated Michelle, in a context in which Bolsonaro is serving a sentence for a coup d'état under house arrest for health reasons.
The conflict originated in the PL's conversations with former governor Ciro Gomes to try to close a pact in the state of Ceará for the elections scheduled for October of this year. Michelle openly criticized this possible alliance, recalling the attacks that Gomes had directed at her husband Jair Bolsonaro, whom he even called a "chicken thief" and a "genocidal" for his actions during the pandemic.
These videos of Michelle have represented the high point of tensions that have been dragging on for years in the public eye. The link between the former first lady and Bolsonaro's older children has always been marked by strong ups and downs and has only been kept cohesive at certain times for political convenience.