SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian graft-fighting ex-judge Sergio Moro is not ruling out a presidential bid, he said on Friday, one day after he said he was no longer a candidate for the Podemos party and had joined the right-wing Union Brazil.
“I have not given up on anything, much less my dream of changing Brazil,” he said at a news conference.
Moro said he will continue to work for a political alternative to the “extremes” offered to voters in the October election that is shaping up to be a highly polarized race between far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Moro did not give details of his political plans, but dismissed the option of running for the lower chamber of Congress.
That leaves open a possibility that Moro could still emerge as a presidential candidate for Union Brazil, which has yet to nominate someone, and other center-right parties looking for a third candidate between Bolsonaro and former President Lula.
If that does not occur, Moro could seek a Senate seat for Union Brazil standing for Sao Paulo, Brazil’s richest state.
Moro’s news conference statements angered some leaders of Union Brazil who oppose his being their presidential candidate, and they will try to annul his party membership, an aide to its secretary general, former Bahia Mayor ACM Neto, told Reuters.
Political analysts said that Moro’s withdrawal from the race would help Bolsonaro, as the 8% of voters who support Moro in early polls would never vote for Lula.
Moro made his name leading the massive “Car Wash” corruption probe that jailed some of Brazil’s political and business elite – including Lula.
He then joined Bolsonaro’s government as justice minister, before quitting after falling out with the president, alleging that he was interfering in the federal police to shield his sons from corruption investigations.
Bolsonaro has lost public support over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and high inflation and faces a tough re-election fight. Lula would get 43% of first-round votes, compared with 26% for Bolsonaro if the election were held today, pollster Datafolha reported last week.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Peter Siqueira; additonal reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Editing by Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)
