Brazil’s presidential frontrunner injured in knife attack

DPA,-09TH SEPTEMBER, 2018 The frontrunner in Brazil’s presidential elections next month, farright candidate Jair Bolsonaro, has been seriously injured in a knife attack, his son said Thursday.

Bolsonaro was attacked at an electoral rally in Juiz de Fora in the southern state of Minas Gerais, Flavio Bolsonaro wrote on Twitter.

He was being held aloft by supporters when he was knifed, according to images and videos posted on social media. One showed him with an expression of pain on his face and a white cloth covering part of his stomach as he was carried.

The 63-year-old was immediately taken to hospital and had two-hour emergency surgery. His condition was described as serious.

Flavio had initially tweeted that Bolsonaro had sustained only a superficial wound but in a later update he said his father had lost a lot of blood and had been “almost dead” on arrival in hospital.

The candidate suffered injuries to an abdominal vein, the colon and the large intestine, a surgeon told a news conference. The operation was successful and Bolsonaro was stable, but in a serious condition, he added.

Bolsonaro will need to stay in hospital to recover for at least a week, according to local media. But recovery could take up to a month. He may have to be transferred to a betterequipped hospital in Sao Paulo.

One person was reported to have been detained.

Bolsonaro is tipped to win the October 7 elections amid an expectation that jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be definitively barred from contesting them.

When asked whether Bolsonaro would be able to carry on campaigning, the doctor said this was “a very subjective” decision.

Brazilian politicians from across the political spectrum condemned the attack. President Michel Temer called it “intolerable”.

The candidate suffered injuries to an abdominal vein, the colon and the large intestine, a surgeon told a news conference.