A far-right candidate who is leading the polls in the race for the Brazilian presidency has been stabbed at a campaign rally, just a month before the election.
The 63-year-old was rushed to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia hospital in the town of Juiz de Fora, 120 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, where he underwent emergency surgery.
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“The trajectory of the wound provoked various injuries. Mr Jair Bolsonaro arrived in a very serious condition at hospital with low pressure due to blood loss,” surgeon Glaucio Souza said.
Following the attack, Bolsonaro’s son Flavio initially tweeted that the wound was “only superficial”, but later suggested that his father had sustained a serious injury.
“Unfortunately it was more serious than we had expected. He lost a lot of blood, arrived at the hospital with a [blood] pressure of 10/3, almost dead. His condition now seems stabilised. Pray, please!”, he wrote on Twitter.
The alleged attacker, named as Adélio Bispo de Oliveira, has been arrested, and local media reports that he had been beaten by Bolsonaro supporters before police could get to him.
The BBC describes Bolsonaro as a “controversial politician, who has outraged many in Brazil with racist and homophobic comments”, but who has nonetheless “performed strongly in recent polls”.
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