F rom behind the bare walls of his cramped prison cell, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro uttered four words to his son that could change the country’s future.

“Let’s go, it’s you,” he said, handing senator Flavio Bolsonaro his most prized asset: his blessing to become candidate for Brazil’s 2026 election.

As the election looms on Sunday, the race is too close to call between Flavio and the incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s left-wing president. The latest poll puts Flavio just one per cent ahead.

A win for Flavio would see Brazil lurch back to the right after four years of left-wing government under Lula, a titan of South American politics, who led the country between 2003 and 2011 before he was reelected in 2023.

Presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro from the Liberal Party is joined on stage in Guarulhos, Brazil by children from the audience (Reuters)

The latest poll of more than 2,000 people by Quaest suggests Flavio would receive 45 per cent of the vote, compared with 44 per…