All you need to know about Jair Bolsonaro

 FERNANDO SOUZA | AFP | Getty Images

Brazil’s right-wing presidential candidate for the Social Liberal Party (PSL) Jair Bolsonaro gives his thumbs up after casting his vote at Villa Militar, during general elections, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 7, 2018. 

Brazil’s far-right presidential front-runner has promised not to become a “peace and love” candidate ahead of a second-round vote, as he continues his push to become the next commander-in-chief of Latin America’s largest democracy.

Jair Bolsonaro — a pro-dictatorship former military officer who has been dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” by the Brazilian media — ran up a huge lead in the first round of voting on Sunday, although he came up just short of the majority needed to avoid a run-off ballot later this month.

He will now face the left-wing Workers’ Party candidate, Fernando Haddad, in the second round on October 28.

Bolsonaro addressed reporters shortly after beating his presidential rival by a margin of 17 percentage points and said he would not tone down his combative rhetoric ahead of the second-round vote.

“The good people of Brazil want to rid themselves of socialism, they don’t want Venezuela’s regime. They want a liberal economy and they want to defend family values.”

“We don’t want to be tomorrow what Venezuela is today,” Bolsonaro said.