A mayor in Brazil has shocked voters after boasting about his fling with a 17-year-old blonde blogger nearly young enough to be his granddaughter.

The younger lover of Jurua Mayor Jose Maria Rodrigues de Rocha Junior, 45, had first threatened to sue local media over rumours that she was involved with him, reports local media.

Tongues had begun wagging when his distinctive heavily tattooed arm appeared in one of influencer Eduarda Vitoria Castelo Branco’s posts for her 100,000 Instagram followers.

But now, the pair have confirmed their romance with a joint post of a picture of them hugging with the caption ‘Love’.

The mayor is seen planting a tender kiss on Eduarda’s forehead while she cuddles up with her arms wrapped around his left bicep.

But the couple’s 28-year age gap has left shocked voters and local media in the state of Amazonas asking questions about the romance.

One TV news group, CM7, suggested they had actually been in a relationship for much longer and posed questions like: “So why are we only finding out about the relationship now?

“Could the fact it has been kept hidden up until now be because of the girl’s age? How long exactly have they been together? Could the reaction to him dating an underage girl harm de Rocha Junior’s reputation?

“And is age really just a number, or does it have real significance?

“These are the questions that the whole of Amazonas wants to know.”