The candidate of the Brazilian far right tells "peace and love" after winning the first round

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday that he would remain faithful to the speech during the second round of the presidential election in Brazil, after his victory in the first turn caused a surge in the financial markets.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain and former lawmaker, almost won the presidency on Sunday, winning 46% of the vote against 29% for the leftist Fernando Haddad – as part of a dramatic turnaround to the right of the largest country in America Latin.

With neither candidate having an absolute majority, Bolsonaro will face Haddad, the former mayor of Sao Paulo representing the Workers' Party (PT), in a second round vote on 28 October.

Some supporters of Bolsonaro have called to moderate his message to ensure victory, but the candidate said that he would stick to an uncompromising rhetoric about crime and corruption that affected voters . The fifth most populous country in the world has been shaken by years of growing scandals of crime, recession and corruption.

"I can not become a little 'Peace and Love' Jair, who would betray who I am," Bolsonaro said in a radio interview. "I have to stay the same person."

His words were a thinly veiled gesture of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had dropped his ardent leftist rhetoric to win the presidency in 2002, posing as the candidate "Peace and Love".

Lula, who founded the Workers Party and was president until 2010, is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption.

Reflecting on the fact that he would win the second round, Bolsonaro said he had already begun talks with other congressional legislators to form a ruling government coalition. This has raised hopes for rapid and market-friendly reforms.

Brazil's benchmark stock index, the Bovespa .BVSP jumped 4%, thanks to double-digit gains by oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA) and state-owned enterprises, that Bolsonaro's advisers announced their intention to privatize.

The markets praised Bolsonaro's move to the presidency since his recent conversion to free market ideas under the tutelage of economist Paulo Guedes, a graduate of the University of Chicago. Signs that Bolsonaro could gain enough support in Congress to advance its agenda have added to the excitement.

"Part of the market's enthusiasm comes from the renovation of Congress. Regardless of the party, this renovation gives hope, "said Pablo Syper, head of trading operations at Mirae Asset Global Investimentos.

Bolsonaro's popularity grew as exasperated Brazilians decided it was the best chance to counter a wave of violent crime and dismantle what prosecutors call the world's biggest political ploy.

But his history of inflamed and undemocratic rhetoric, his calls to the police to kill as many criminals as possible, and his opposition to the legalization of abortion and same-sex marriage put others in the throes.

& # 39; NOT HIM & # 39;

The former Ceara governor, Ciro Gomes, who separated from the PT and garnered 12% of the votes in the first round during his center-left presidential campaign, abstained from the polls. support Haddad for the second round, but said that he would "fight for democracy".

When he asked who he would support, Gomes referred to the slogan of anti-Bolsonaro protesters in recent weeks: "Not him, certainly."

With the reduced number of candidates to two candidates, some analysts consider Haddad as the natural heir to most of the centrist votes that will be at stake. But the scale of success of the first round of Bolsonaro means that Haddad will have little room to maneuver .

Political analysts said that to have a chance to win the second round, Haddad should move very hard towards the center, move away from his political mentor and denounce the corruption that had flourished during his party's campaign at government in 2003-2016.

At a press conference on Monday, Haddad presented the second round, opposing Bolsonaro's "neoliberalism" to the social programs promoted by the PT. He did not offer concrete political concessions to potential allies.

ALLIANCES IN CONGRESS

Brazil's next Congress was also elected on Sunday, and in a radical change, Bolsonaro's Social Liberal Party (PSL) was to become the second largest force in the legislature.

The party would still need alliances to get Congress, which was even more fragmented after Sunday's election, adopt Bolsonaro's socially conservative policies and free market reforms.

Thirty parties won seats in the lower house, compared to 25 on the spot before the vote.

PSL interim president Luciano Bivar told Reuters he hoped to attract converted lawmakers to other parties, broadening the ranks of the PSL to overtake the PT as the largest party in the lower house.

"We are going to have a big, perfectly governable caucus to pass the bills required by society – to carry out the ongoing reforms," ​​said Bivar, referring to the stalled efforts to reduce public pensions and close the budget deficit. .

Congressman Onyx Lorenzoni, Bolsonaro's chief political advisor, said his team was targeting lawmakers from parties opposed to the PT – including those from parties whose leaders do not yet support the right winger.

"We will talk with all those who wish to speak with us now, which is interesting because many of them did not want to talk to us before the first round vote," Lorenzoni said.

Polls, questions and main candidates for the Brazilian election: tmsnrt.rs/2Ixe0NI