Former finance minister Fernando Haddad, the Workers' Party candidate for governor of São Paulo, attacked Senator Flávio Bolsonaro on Saturday (Sept. 26) during a campaign walk with President Lula in São Miguel Paulista, a district on the east side of São Paulo. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, is Lula's main rival in the presidential race. According to G1, Haddad demanded that the senator explain the origin and destination of money provided by banker Daniel Vorcaro of Banco Master to finance the film Dark Horse.
"He gives no account of the film 'Dark Horse' because he simply has none to give. This guy is tangled up in every corruption scandal. In every scandal, he has some friend," Haddad said.
"In the INSS case, he has this Willer [Tomaz] who turned up. At Master, he has Vorcaro. With the militias, he has Adriano [da Nóbrega]. And in the rachadinhas, he has Queiroz. He is always tangled up in something dangerous. And now he wants to take the presidency. From this Pernambuco man here, we won't allow it."
The phrase "this Pernambuco man" referred to Lula, who was born in the state of Pernambuco. Haddad tied Flávio Bolsonaro to four separate investigations: the case of the INSS, Brazil's federal pension agency; the Banco Master case; inquiries into militias; and the "rachadinha" scheme of splitting staffers' salaries with a politician.
Dark Horse, a film about the life of former president Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio's father, is under investigation by Brazil's Supreme Court and by São Paulo state prosecutors over suspected use of public funds. According to G1, the inquiry covers producer Karina da Gama, of Go UP Entertainment, and the Instituto Conhecer Brasil, of which she is the sole owner.
Tarcísio and the end of the bets
Haddad also targeted Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, his opponent in the race for the São Paulo governorship in the Oct. 4 election. "On October 4, we will re-elect Lula and fulfill Tarcísio's dream of going home, back to Brasília. The 4th means 13, Haddad and Márcio França, to send Tarcísio to Brasília or to Rio de Janeiro, wherever he prefers," he said. Thirteen is the Workers' Party's ballot number. Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Senate candidates Simone Tebet and Marina Silva joined the walk.
Haddad defended the ban on online betting apps and the popular "Jogo do Tigrinho" slot-style game, decreed by Lula on Friday (Sept. 25), and said Flávio and Tarcísio "are defending the bets that President Lula ended." "We created taxes for 141,000 wealthy people who started paying, so that 15 million Brazilians earning up to R$ 5,000 a month stopped paying income tax. We are not ashamed of tax justice," he said.
The gap in Ceará
A Real Time Big Data poll released the same day shows Lula with 63% against Flávio Bolsonaro's 28% in a simulated runoff in Ceará state, in Brazil's Northeast, according to CartaCapital. In the first-round scenario in the state, Lula leads 60% to 26%. The institute surveyed 1,600 voters from Sept. 21 to 24, by phone and online recruitment, with a margin of error of two percentage points. The poll is registered with the electoral court as BR-05316/2026. Nationally, the race is far closer: a Datafolha runoff simulation released on Thursday (Sept. 24) put Lula at 47% and Flávio at 45%.
The first round of Brazil's election is scheduled for Oct. 4, eight days away. The investigations into Dark Horse remain open at the Supreme Court and at the São Paulo prosecutors' office.