PT Frames Runoff as Choice Between Lula and a Candidate Linked to Rio Militia Figures

PT leaders are using a 2005 decoration to suspected militiaman Adriano da Nóbrega to challenge Flávio Bolsonaro’s credibility on public security and shape the Oct. 25 runoff contest.

Overview

PT president Edinho Silva said the party plans to paint Flávio Bolsonaro as close to Rio de Janeiro militias, citing a 2005 decoration Flávio gave to Adriano da Nóbrega as evidence and making security a central campaign line.
Edinho met with President Lula in Brasília to set second-round strategy and publicly argued that only Lula can offer a credible public security program to Brazilians.
The 2005 decoration is a documented event and Adriano da Nóbrega was later investigated in the 2018 killings of city councillor Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes and was killed in 2020 during a police shootout.
Flávio Bolsonaro led the first round with 47.03% of valid votes to Lula’s 45.16%, sending the race to a runoff on October 25 and making the narrowly decided contest a focus for intensified messaging.
Coverage to date reports this as political strategy rather than new judicial findings, and the PT is pairing the militia allegations with efforts to correct campaign routes and broaden appeal to centrist voters.