BRASILIA — Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, won 47 percent of the vote in the first round of Brazil's presidential election this week, edging incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who received 44.2 percent. An Oct. 25 runoff will decide the race.
The result signals a potential reversal for Amazon rainforest protection. President Lula's administration reduced deforestation in the Amazon by nearly 50 percent during his term, yet the gains did not translate into electoral momentum.
Former environment minister Marina Silva lost her Senate bid. Joenia Wapichana, former head of Brazil's Indigenous affairs agency Funai, failed to secure a congressional seat. Only two of 57 Indigenous candidates won seats in concurrent elections.
During Jair Bolsonaro's four years in power, Amazon deforestation rose 59.5 percent. The younger Bolsonaro has pledged to release his father, who is imprisoned for plotting a military coup and attempting to undermine Brazil's democracy, and has said his father could hold any position in a new administration.
As a lawmaker, Flávio Bolsonaro supported a 2019 bill to eliminate conservation requirements for Amazon landowners. His campaign manifesto omitted climate change, and he has courted landowners accused of illegal rainforest clearing.
Daniel Santos, a Bolsonarist candidate, won in the Amazonian state of Pará. Santos was previously fined $275,000 for clearing 280 hectares without authorization. He has promised to waive such penalties if elected.
Following Sunday's election, Bolsonarists now control seven of nine states within the Brazilian Amazon. They have a chance to win an eighth state in the runoffs.
