Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is campaigning to return to the job he held between 2003-2010, on Thursday received an endorsement from moderate André Janones who had been expected to run himself.
Da Silva, who is commonly known as Lula, and Janones made the announcement in a live broadcast, shortly before they were scheduled to hold a press conference in Sao Paulo.
“I stop my bid and unify it with former President Lula’s,” Janones, a social media phenomenon with 2 million followers on Instagram and 8 million on Facebook, said.
His endorsement could help push the leftist former leader closer to an outright victory against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Da Silva currently leads all polls; the most recent survey from Datafolha showed him with 47% support in the first-round vote on Oct. 3.
By contrast, the same poll showed Janones with 2% support. It was conducted July 27 and 28 and has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.
On Thursday, Janones also said he could not support Bolsonaro, who he accused of increasing spending through year-end merely to boost his reelection chances.
“I cannot support a president who has used people's hunger to boost his chances,” Janones said.
