SAO PAOLO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil's right-wing Liberal Party on Saturday formally nominated Flavio Bolsonaro, a 45-year-old senator and son of imprisoned ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, as its candidate in the October presidential election.

He is set to face off against leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 80, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term and has gained momentum in recent weeks as the younger Bolsonaro faced a series of crises.

Far-right firebrand Jair Bolsonaro anointed his eldest son Flavio as his political heir after being sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup following his 2022 election loss to Lula.

"I may be calmer, more cheerful, more composed and more moderate, but Bolsonaro blood flows here!" Flavio, touching his arm, declared to a cheering crowd in a Sao Paulo warehouse.

He warned that Brazil — Latin America's largest country in population, area and economy — "could take giant strides toward a dictatorship" if Lula wins reelection.

That alarmist rhetoric was echoed by Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, who joined the convention in person to lend support to Flavio Bolsonaro.

"I firmly believe there is no one else capable of putting an end to the Lula risk hanging over Brazil," Milei said in a typically fiery speech.

Wearing Brazilian national team jerseys, which have become a symbol of the Bolsonaro movement, supporters beat drums and waved flags inside a warehouse next to Sao Paulo's Pacaembu Stadium.

"We would have liked our candidate to be Jair Bolsonaro, but today Flavio is the best choice," Fernando Moeno, a 50-year-old retired military police officer attending the convention, told Agence France-Presse.

Flavio Bolsonaro teared up as he referenced his father, who appeared in an AI-generated video. Courts have barred the ex-president from making political statements while he serves his sentence under house arrest.

Promising to crack down on crime and inflation, Flavio was neck-and-neck with Lula in the polls until he was hit by a series of scandals: ties to a disgraced banker, a family feud, and new tariffs imposed by ally United States President Donald Trump.

Pollster Datafolha published a survey Friday showing that in a runoff election, Lula would win 48 percent of votes to Flavio's 43 percent.