Former anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro, center-right candidate for the October presidential election in Brazil where he was credited with a third position, announced Thursday that he was throwing in the towel.
Read alsoPresidential in Brazil: Lula remains favorite, Bolsonaro narrows the gap, according to a poll
"I renounce my candidacy and I will be a soldier of democracy
," wrote the former Minister of Justice of the Bolsonaro government in a statement posted on Instagram.
The polls gave him 8% of the voting intentions.
Sergio Moro, 49, also announced that he was changing parties, leaving Podemos (center), which he joined in November, to join Uniao Brasil (center right).
The former magistrate is the sworn enemy of the poll favorite for the ballot, the left-wing ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whom he sentenced to a prison term for corruption in 2017. He is also in very bad terms with the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, whose government he left with a bang in April 2020, accusing the head of state of interference in police investigations targeting his relatives.
"Brazil needs an alternative to liberate the party from the two extremes, instability and radicalism
," Sergio Moro said in his statement.
"That's why I accepted the invitation (...) of Uniao Brasil to facilitate the negotiations of the political forces of the democratic center, with a view to a single candidacy"
, added Sergio Moro, who could according to the Brazilian press to seek a mandate as deputy or senator.
A withdrawal that will benefit Bolsonaro
The polls give no chance to a
"third way",
that of a candidacy that would avoid a duel between Lula and Bolsonaro in the second round, none of the potential candidates exceeding 10%.
For political scientist André Pereira César, of the consultancy firm Hold, the withdrawal of Sergio Moro should benefit Jair Bolsonaro.
"The big winner is Bolsonaro, because those who would have voted for Moro have a lot more affinity with him,"
he said.
"Most of them would never vote for Lula, for ideological reasons
," insists this analyst, for whom the probability of a second round between Lula and Bolsonaro is 95%.
According to the latest poll by the Datafolha institute, Lula remains clearly in the lead, with 43% of voting intentions, ahead of Jair Bolsonaro (26%).
The outgoing president, however, reduced the gap from 26 to 17 points compared to the previous survey by this benchmark institute, dating from December.
