By Isabel Teles
SAO PAULO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Augusto Cury, a psychiatrist and best-selling author with no previous elected office experience, has emerged as a surprise contender in Brazil's presidential race, unsettling a contest dominated by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.
Recent television appearances and strong social media reach have lifted Cury's standing in opinion polls ahead of the October vote.
Cury, 67, placed third in first-round voting scenarios released on Monday, garnering 11% (up from 2%) support in a Nexus poll commissioned by lender BTG Pactual and 7.8% (up from 1.6%) in an AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll.
The results marked a rare shift in a race that has been dominated by the leftist-Lula and the right-wing Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Cury's rise could reshape the dynamics of the campaign in the coming weeks, increasing pressure on the frontrunners to respond to a candidate seeking to appeal to voters dissatisfied with years of polarization.
Cury, who is running on the ticket of the little-known Avante party, has sought to position himself as an alternative to the long-standing political polarization between left and right in the country.
Analysts caution, however, that it is too early to conclude whether his gains will prove durable, as the opposition vote remains fragmented.
The Nexus poll showed Lula leading Bolsonaro by 39% to 33% while AtlasIntel put Lula at 43.4% versus 33.7% for Bolsonaro. If no candidate secures more than 50% of valid votes in the first round, the top two candidates advance to a runoff.
"To threaten Bolsonaro, an alternative conservative candidate would need to rise further in polls and reach roughly 15% around mid-September (with Bolsonaro simultaneously falling to about 25%) to credibly make a case for strategic voting against Lula," Eurasia Group said in a statement.
Cury has avoided identifying with either the political left or right, instead campaigning under the slogan "Centered on what matters."
H
NATIONAL PROFILE
A physician and prolific author focused on psychology and emotional well-being, Cury has built a national profile over decades through books, lectures and media appearances.
Cury says he has sold 42 million books in more than 70 countries and describes himself as the world's most-read psychiatrist. Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
With 10.7 million Instagram followers, he has a social media audience approaching Flavio Bolsonaro's 11.4 million, though still smaller than Lula's 14.9 million.
Born in Brazil's most-populous state, Sao Paulo, Cury portrays himself as a political outsider bringing management experience to government. In addition to his medical and publishing career, he says he is a rural producer and business manager.
"My mind is capitalist, my heart is social," Cury recently told reporters, as he criticized some of Lula's policies.
(Reporting by Isabel Teles; Editing by Manuela Andreoni and Sanjeev Miglani)
