A bitter public feud between Michelle Bolsonaro, the former first lady, and her stepson Flávio Bolsonaro, the right-wing pre-candidate for Brazil’s October presidential election, has thrown the opposition camp into disarray. Michelle Bolsonaro released videos accusing Flávio of humiliating her during a phone call over party strategy in Ceará state, then resigned from the presidency of the PL Women’s wing and signalled she might abandon her own Senate candidacy. The rupture, which became public in late June, has exposed deep divisions within the political movement built by jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Within the Liberal Party (PL), most federal lawmakers have rallied behind Flávio, viewing Michelle’s decision to air the dispute on social media as a political error, according to congressional sources in Brasília. Flávio Bolsonaro issued a public apology, denied any disrespect, and has since sought to project strength, telling supporters he is “stronger than ever” while promising to appoint women to the Supreme Court. Michelle Bolsonaro, however, has received only limited public backing, notably from Senator Damares Alves, and the PL’s national president, Valdemar Costa Neto, criticised her for sharing an unverified video that appeared to target Flávio indirectly. Analysts in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro note that Michelle has cultivated a distinct base among evangelical Christians and conservative women, two demographics where Flávio trails the leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in opinion polls.

The infighting has immediate electoral consequences. Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign, already weakened by the so-called Dark Horse scandal linking him to a banker accused of fraud, has been forced to postpone the search for a vice-presidential candidate. Internal coordination problems have surfaced, with campaign coordinator Rogério Marinho accused by allies of centralising decisions and hindering negotiations with centrist parties such as the PP and Republicanos. Viewed from Brasília, the feud complicates efforts to consolidate the right-wing vote, particularly among women, where a recent BTG Pactual/Nexus poll showed Lula leading Flávio by 55% to 37% in a hypothetical runoff.

The dispute is rooted in a longer struggle over the political inheritance of Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year house-arrest sentence for attempting to overturn the 2022 election. He designated Flávio as his successor in late 2025, sidelining speculation that Michelle might seek the presidency herself. The immediate trigger was a disagreement over local alliances in Ceará, but Brazilian political observers interpret Michelle’s public offensive as a strategic move to preserve her own long-term viability, possibly for a future presidential bid. With candidacies to be formalised in August, the dossier remains open: reconciliation attempts have failed, and Michelle Bolsonaro’s next steps—whether she will remain in the party or launch an independent political project—are yet to be defined.