Wounded Brazil presidential hopeful moved to hospital

JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil: Brazil’s right-wing presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro was transferred to a hospital in Sao Paulo on Friday, a day after being stabbed while campaigning.

Bolsonaro’s injury adds additional uncertainty to a presidential contest that has already seen the most popular candidate -- who is in prison -- barred from standing for office.

"Patient Jair Messias Bolsonaro recently left... and went to the Albert Einstein hospital," said Eunice Dantas, spokeswoman for the Santa Casa de Juiz de Fora hospital.

Bolsonaro underwent surgery on Thursday for multiple wounds to his mid-section after the attack in the southeastern city of Juiz de Fora.

The operation on Bolsonaro went well and he "is in excellent clinical condition," Dantas said. Images shared on social media and Brazilian television showed Bolsonaro being carried on the shoulders of a throng of supporters, before a man lunges at his stomach.

A witness told police the attacker held a knife wrapped up in a shirt and attacked Bolsonaro as the group hoisting him walked by. The attacker was arrested immediately and identified as Adelio Bispo de Oliveira, 40 -- said to have been a member of the left-leaning PSOL party.

After his arrest, Bispo de Oliveira said he was "carrying out a divine mission, a mission from God," said Luis Boundens, head of a union of federal police officers.

Authorities are investigating the suspect’s mental health, he added. Bolsonaro, a former military man and lawmaker, has been criticized for outbursts deemed racist, misogynist and homophobic.

Bispo de Oliveira acted "for religious reasons, for political reasons, and also because of the prejudice Bolsonaro has always shown when he talks about race, religion and even women," said his lawyer, Pedro Augusto Lima Possa.

On his Facebook page, the attacker recently posted messages criticizing Bolsonaro and supporting the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

President Michel Temer quickly condemned the attack and instructed his Minister of Security Raul Jungmann to reinforce security for candidates and conduct "a rigorous investigation," a spokesman for the presidency told AFP.

"It is intolerable to see that in a democratic state it is not possible to have a normal campaign," said Temer.

While the frontrunner in Brazil’s presidential election is hospitalized, the most popular candidate, former president and leftist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is in jail.

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a ban on Lula running in the election. First round voting is scheduled for October 7.

With Lula ruled out of the election, the latest polls from the Ibope Institute put Bolsonaro in a clear lead with 22 percent compared with 12 percent each for environmentalist Marina Silva and center-left runner Ciro Gomes.