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Brazil’s Presidential Candidate Undergoes Surgery After Stabbing

  Brazil’s far-right presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro underwent surgery for complications from a stab wound he suffered while campaigning, doctors said. Advertisement The operation Wednesday … Continue reading Brazil’s Presidential Candidate Undergoes Surgery After Stabbing


Brazilian right-wing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro gestures after being stabbed in the stomach during a campaign rally in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais State, in southern Brazil, on September 6, 2018. Frontrunner Bolsonaro was attacked with a knife while campaigning — but escaped with just minor injuries, his son said. Raysa LEITE / AFP
Brazilian right-wing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro gestures after being stabbed in the stomach during a campaign rally in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais State, in southern Brazil, on September 6, 2018.  Raysa LEITE / AFP

 

Brazil’s far-right presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro underwent surgery for complications from a stab wound he suffered while campaigning, doctors said.

The operation Wednesday was necessary because of a blockage of the small intestine, Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo said, adding that the procedure was successful.

With the much more popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in prison and out of the race, Bolsonaro is leading in the polls ahead of the October 7 vote for a new president.

A leftwing assailant stabbed Bolsonaro, 63, last week as he did a campaign walkabout in the town of Juiz de Flora in southeastern Minas Gerais state.

After the attack, he first underwent a colostomy.

Bolsonaro’s son Flavio said the latest surgery went well.

“My father is paying a very high price for wanting to save Brazil. He is literally giving his blood,” the son, a state lawmaker who is running for a seat in the federal senate, wrote on Twitter.

Bolsonaro is ahead with a 24 per cent share among people who say they will vote, far ahead of the next strongest candidate, Ciro Gomes of the centre-left with 13 per cent, according to a Datafolha poll released Monday.

Bolsonaro is a former army captain who has been criticized for remarks deemed misogynist and homophobic and has spoken fondly of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985.

AFP