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Election favorite in Brazil to undergo more surgery after being stabbed at campaign rally as support for far-right politician spreads in opinion polls and markets capital.
Jair Bolsonaro's doctors said the former army captain had remained in serious critical-care condition after last Thursday's assault by a single assailant, who almost killed him after raping his large intestine.
"Another major surgery will be needed later," said his doctors, adding that this would amount to restoring the functioning of the damaged intestine and removing a colostomy bag.
Bolsonaro's growing popularity comes as the largest country in Latin America faces its most unpredictable election in decades as its economy struggles to recover from a crippling recession.
The next president will have to restore investor confidence by supporting the tough reforms of the broken Congress of Brazil, including a review of the pension system.
A BTG Pactual / FSB telephone survey showed that Mr. Bolsonaro's popularity had gone from 26% after the knife attack to 30%, with his closest rival, veteran southpaw Ciro Gomes. support.
A Datafolha poll released Monday night also showed that Bolsonaro's popularity had increased from 22% to 24% after the knife attack. His closest rivals are Mr. Gomes (13%), followed by environmentalist Marina Silva (11%). Behind Geraldo Alckmin with 10%, and probably the replacement of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Fernando Haddad, with 9%.
The stabbing has increased the media coverage of a candidate who, under the Brazilian election rules, has very little time on television due to the marginal presence of his coalition at Congress.
The aftermath of the attack was followed live by the television channels that closely followed the state of his health, generating support not only in Brazil but from sympathetic politicians abroad.
Matteo Salvini, Italian Deputy Prime Minister, tweeted a message of "solidarity" to Mr Bolsonaro. "I hope he can soon recover and be elected president of Brazil," he said.
The doctors say Bolsonaro could be confined to the hospital and home for weeks, compromising his ability to campaign, with the first round of elections scheduled for October 7 and the second on October 28.
"My father has gone as far as possible, now the rest is ours," said one of his sons, Flavio Bolsonaro, at a rally on the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. "Myth" or "legend". "Everyone of us is Bolsonaro."
Candidates range from leftist Mr. Lula da Silva, imprisoned for corruption and prevented from directing, to the market's favorite, the former governor of the state of São Paulo, Mr. Alckmin.
But Alckmin's campaign has not yet managed to get the necessary support, which has led the markets to consider Bolsonaro as the main alternative to the Brazilian left, analysts said.
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Mr. Bolsonaro admits little knowledge of economics but is advised by a financier trained by the University of Chicago, Paulo Guedes.
Markets rose in the hours following Mr. Bolsonaro's stabbing. But the Brazilian currency, the real, has since returned some of these gains to the dollar.
"The market is still with Alckmin but they see in Bolsonaro an important plan B," said André Perfeito, an economist at Spinelli brokers.
Once on the sidelines of Brazilian politics for his setbacks against minorities, Bolsonaro used social media to bypass mainstream media and convey his twin messages of a tighter line on security and respect for conservative values. .
