Brazilian senator and presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro has accused President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of breaking election law by raising Bolsa Familia welfare payments.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Vitoria da Conquista in the northeastern state of Bahia on Thursday, 17 September, the Liberal Party candidate described the increase announced earlier that morning by the Workers' Party leader as an act of desperation.
Flavio Bolsonaro told supporters not to fall for another false promise of picanha, saying Lula had issued a decree just 17 days before the election despite knowing such measures are prohibited during elections. He said the president thought he could fool someone even though he knew the move was not allowed.
At an event at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia on Thursday morning, Lula said the minimum monthly Bolsa Familia payment will rise from 600 reais to 691 reais starting in October. The average monthly benefit will increase from 675 reais to 777 reais.
Bolsa Familia welfare programme and campaign clash
Bolsa Familia is Brazil's flagship federal cash transfer programme for low-income households, established during Lula's first presidential term in 2003. Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator for Rio de Janeiro and the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, is challenging the incumbent president for the right-wing Liberal Party.
His picanha remark referred to a prized Brazilian cut of beef that Lula used as a campaign symbol when promising working-class families more affordable food.
During an interview at the campaign stop in Bahia, Flavio Bolsonaro also rejected allegations that his presidential bid had received foreign funding. Earlier on Thursday, broadcaster CNN Brasil reported on a document from last year in which the United States government demanded that political dissidents be allowed to run in this year's Brazilian election.
United States State Department document and Pix rules
Dismissing the allegations, the senator said that narrative would not stick and insisted that Brazilians alone decide the election. He said the opposition is contesting the race and will win under the existing rules, adding that he plans to move closer to major democratic powers that use their strength to generate wealth for the country.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira received the US document on 16 October 2025 in Washington, where he met in person with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Jamieson Greer, head of the White House Office of the United States Trade Representative. The text suggested agenda topics for talks between Vieira and State Department officials.
Other US requests in the document included Brazil adhering to the principle of competitive neutrality regarding the Central Bank of Brazil's role as regulator and supervisor of electronic payment systems such as Pix, the instant payment platform operated by the central bank.
