Minutes After Lula’s Narrow Win, Left Demands Passport Seizure and Prison for Flávio Bolsonaro
The ink was barely dry on Brazil’s runoff results when left-wing federal deputy Duda Salabert moved to seize Flávio Bolsonaro’s passport and push for his arrest. Lula scraped by with 51.79 percent to Flávio’s 48.21 percent—an edge of roughly 4.4 million votes after trailing in the first round. Flávio has refused to concede and is preparing a challenge to annul the second round over last-minute court orders that extended voting hours.
Salabert, a PSOL lawmaker from Minas Gerais, posted that she had just requested the passport seizure so the “bandit” could not flee to the United States, join his brother Eduardo, and “plot against national sovereignty.” She called for him to be jailed soon.
Other government-aligned deputies filed similar requests with prosecutors and the courts, citing flight risk and ongoing Supreme Federal Court inquiries. No concrete evidence of any escape plan has been produced; the case rests on Eduardo’s presence abroad and the family’s name.
The timing is the point. Salabert’s announcement came minutes after the result was called. It followed a court ruling—tied to a Lula ally—that prolonged polling in some places while others stayed closed, a move Flávio’s camp says skewed the outcome. Lula’s victory remarks included talk of regulating social media platforms over alleged outside interference and the claim that Brazil no longer has opponents.
This is the same playbook that put Jair Bolsonaro behind bars and keeps political rivals under judicial pressure. A razor-thin result, contested procedures, and an immediate push to freeze the loser out of travel and into custody look less like routine law enforcement than an effort to shut down challenges before they start. Whether the courts grant the requests remains to be seen; the political signal is already clear.- DTP