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Brazil's Presidential Frontrunner Undergoes Further Surgery After Stabbing

Brazil's Presidential Frontrunner Undergoes Further Surgery After Stabbing

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro remains in intensive care in a stable condition following an urgent surgical intervention late on Wednesday, according to the latest statement from the hospital where he is being treated.

The patient continues to receive painkillers but there has been no bleeding or other complications since the operation, the Thursday evening medical bulletin said. There are no signs of infection and his kidney is functioning normally. An earlier message from the doctors treating him explained that the two-hour operation to unblock an intestinal obstruction had concluded around midnight on Wednesday.

In the first tweet from his official account since the operation, Bolsonaro thanked those who had prayed for his recovery and said that "everything went well". Earlier in the day, Flavio Bolsonaro, the candidate’s son, said in a radio interview that his father’s condition is still serious and that he won’t “be able to return to the streets before the first round.”

Bolsonaro had undergone a first surgery on Sept. 6 right after being stabbed in the stomach by a fanatic during a street rally, perforating his inferior mesenteric vein. He’s been hospitalized since and had temporarily left intensive care earlier on Tuesday.

Due to the second surgery, the candidate will not be released from hospital for the next 10-14 days, meaning that it is extremely unlikely he will be able to campaign ahead of the first round, according to Dr. Carlos Sobrado, a professor of digestive system surgery at the Universidade de Sao Paulo’s Hospital das Clinicas. If his situation progresses well, he would have about a 50-50 chance of campaigning in a possible second round.

Investors are closely monitoring the election prospects of the former Army captain, who leads opinion polls by more than ten percentage points. Many investors prefer him over two competitive left-wing candidates who pledge to undo market-friendly legislation approved by the current administration.

The first opinion polls showed the former Army captain, whose statements about women, minorities and LGBT people have repelled some Brazilians, extend his lead after the stabbing. A new Datafolha poll will be released on Friday night, according to a director for the pollster.

--With assistance from Katerina Petroff and David Biller.

To contact the reporter on this story: Walter Brandimarte in Rio de Janeiro at wbrandimarte@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Bruce Douglas, Raymond Colitt

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