John Oliver used his Sunday night programme Last Week Tonight to turn a spotlight on Brazil’s high-stakes election, which will see some 160 million eligible voters decide the country’s next president as well as numerous statewide and legislative offices.
The show noted the scale of the vote: Brazilians will elect a president, state governors, two-thirds of the senate and every member of the lower house. With so much at stake, Oliver framed the contest as a familiar confrontation between incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — widely known as Lula — and Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro.
Oliver said many Brazilians are uneasy about the choice, quipping that the nation is once again forced to pick “between Lula and a guy named Bolsonaro.” He singled out Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign style, accusing it of relying on what he described as fearmongering and “flagrant daddy issues,” a critique aimed at both the candidate’s rhetoric and his political lineage.
The segment highlighted the symbolic weight carried by the Bolsonaro name: Flávio is the son of Jair Bolsonaro, the controversial former president whose time in office left a polarised legacy. Oliver’s commentary framed the son’s candidacy not merely as an individual bid for power but as an extension of his father’s political imprint.
While the television host’s remarks were delivered in his characteristic satirical tone, they underscore the intense scrutiny on Brazil’s electoral choices and the broader questions about personality, legacy and messaging that are shaping this campaign. Oliver’s critique adds an international media voice to the already heated domestic debate as voters prepare to cast their ballots.