as the 2006 presidential elections approached, garotinho, intent on maintaining a candidacy that his party tended to turn down for supporting lula's bid for reelection, announced on may 1, 2006 a hunger strike, allegedly in protest of what he called unjust treatment by the brazilian media, after unanswered accusations of illegal campaign funding - mostly about his wife's spending of some r$120 million in contracts with various shadowy ngos for providing undelivered services to the state's government, which the media saw as a way to divert funds to an electoral campaign. he later stopped his hunger strike, leaving charges unanswered- and his presidential candidacy turned down. the brazilian press writing garotinho off as a "clown" and a failing politician parading himself as a caricature of "a crucified jesus christ". many satirists declared that they supported garotinho going on with the strike "to the very end".