RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 30 — Besides electing far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro as their next president on Sunday, Brazilians also elected his allies in 12 of the country’s 27 governor’s races.

Several of the candidates were virtual unknowns until they publicly aligned themselves with the former army captain, who has been dubbed a "Tropical Trump” for his vitriolic rhetoric and anti-establishment populism.

The states swept up in the "Bolsonaro wave” include the three most populous in the country: Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro.

Not all the new governors come from Bolsonaro’s Social Liberal Party (PSL).

But they have all declared their allegiance to the president-elect.

And the formerly minor PSL did claim the first three governorships in its history, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, the northern state of Roraima and the western state of Rondonia.

Candidates from other parties who aligned themselves with Bolsonaro meanwhile swept to office elsewhere, especially in the wealthy southeast of the country.

One dramatic case was Rio de Janeiro.

Little-known candidate Wilson Witsel, who was polling at three per cent of the vote in August, declared his support for Bolsonaro in September and suddenly soared in the polls.

It’s not even clear that Bolsonaro reciprocates Witsel’s support — he declined to publicly back the former federal judge.

But Witsel, 50, hit the campaign trail with Bolsonaro’s son Flavio, who was himself elected senator.

And that was good enough.

Witsel shocked pollsters in the first-round election on October 7 by finishing in first place with 39 per cent of the vote. The final opinion polls had him in third place with 12 per cent.

He went on to win a run-off Sunday with 60 per cent, defeating former Rio city mayor Eduardo Paes.

In Sao Paulo, the wealthiest state in Brazil, former TV presenter and Sao Paulo city mayor Joao Doria also jumped on the Bolsonaro bandwagon — and won with 52 per cent of the vote, beating center-left candidate Marcio Franca.

The move infuriated some in his party, the center-right PSDB. The consummately establishment party’s own defeated presidential candidate, Geraldo Alckmin, called Doria a "traitor.”

In Minas Gerais, another relative unknown, Romeu Sema of the right-wing New Party, converted his backing for Bolsonaro into massive support, winning with more than 70 per cent of the vote on Sunday.

These and the other six states swept up in the Bolsonaro wave form a band across nearly the entire western portion of Brazil.

The party that claimed the most governorships was, nevertheless, the left-wing Workers’ Party — a favorite target of Bolsonaro’s attacks. The party of presidential runner-up Fernando Haddad managed to elect four governors, all in its traditional bastion in the impoverished northeast. — AFP