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In the Jequitinhonha Valley’s impoverished city of Aracuai, part of the northern Minas Gerais state that has been a bellwether for presidential races, it is hard to find a single voter who flipped their support to Bolsonaro because of the bigger welfare payments.

In 2003, then-President da Silva brought his entire Cabinet to the Jequitinhonha Valley, saying he wanted his ministers to see extreme poverty up close.

First-round results show it helped Bolsonaro win some votes in the Jequitinhonha Valley, said Carlos Ranulfo, a political scientist at Federal University of Minas Gerais.

Living alone in Jequitinhonha’s countryside, he has no phone, doesn’t watch television and spends most of his day caring for his pets.

Bolsonaro’s few outspoken supporters in the Jequitinhonha Valley are enthusiastic about the welfare payments.