Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and incumbent Jair Bolsonaro exchanged insults and corruption allegations during a tense televised debate as they sought to sway voters ahead of a runoff election on Oct. 30.
The event organized by Band TV was the first time the two leading candidates met alone face to face, giving them plenty of time to attack each other as they didn’t have to share airtime with five other contestants who joined debates before the first-round vote of presidential elections on Oct. 2.
It was a key moment for candidates to reach millions of voters in the final stretch of a tight presidential election, when every vote counts. Both have rushed to secure the backing of contestants who didn’t make it to the second round, as well as key state governors and mayors who may rally supporters in their states and municipalities. Over the past week, Lula and Bolsonaro crisscrossed Brazil’s Northeast to court poor voters.
The debate started with the men trying to explain where they would find money to deliver on the promises they have made during the campaign, including more generous cash handouts of 600 reais ($113) per month to the poor. Both cited a tax reform proposal as part of a strategy to boost government revenue. Bolsonaro said some of the funds obtained with privatizations would also be diverted to fund social programs. Lula said he would reduce the tax burden on the poor and increase it on the wealthy.
It was one of the few times the economy would come into play in the two-hour debate. A long discussion about Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic ensued, leaving the president visibly uncomfortable in some occasions. Both called each other a “liar” and “corrupt” several times.
“You’re a liar, the king of fake news,” Lula said. “You discredited vaccines, mocked people dying from lack of oxygen; nobody in the world made fun of the pandemic and death like you did.”
Bolsonaro responded saying that Lula “did nothing for the country.”
“You only diverted public funds to your pocket and those of your friends,” he said.
Asked whether they would respect the separation of powers and refrain from sponsoring bills to increase the number of justices in the nation’s top court, Lula said that making changes in the court’s composition to appoint friends would be a setback. He conceded, however, that a fixed mandate for the judges instead of lifetime terms could be discussed in the future.
Bolsonaro, who has clashed with Supreme Court justices throughout his years in office, coming close to an institutional crisis in some occasions, promised not to sponsor any bill to increase the number of court members.
Bolsonaro’s performance improved in the second part of the debate, when the president started questioning Lula about past corruption scandals involving Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-owned oil giant. The leftist leader sought to change the topic of discussion, comparing his environmental track record to that of Bolsonaro, but spent a lot of time in his remarks, which the candidates were supposed to manage themselves. That allowed the president to speak for five minutes straight at the end.
The speech then quickly turned to ideological and religious themes, associating Lula with other leftist leaders in the region, and falsely accusing the former president of planning to close churches if elected. Throughout the campaign, Bolsonaro has often brought up corruption as a theme, frequently calling Lula a “former convict.”
On Sunday’s debate, he had an unlikely ally on his corner: former Justice Minister Sergio Moro, the judge responsible for the probe that landed Lula in jail, barring him from running in the 2018 race that saw Bolsonaro elected. Moro left the government in 2020 amid a bitter fight with his boss, who he accused of trying to interfere at the country’s federal police, akin to the FBI. Moro, who was elected Senator on Oct. 2 after abandoning an unsucessful run for the presidency, was part of Bolsonaro’s team of advisers in the debate, even appearing next to the president on a TV interview following the event.
Lula, who governed the country from 2003 to 2010, won the first round of the vote with 48% support earlier this month. Bolsonaro took 43%. Since neither clinched the simple majority needed to win outright, they face off again on Oct 30.
Lula continues to lead the presidential race although some pollsters say the results will be even tighter than in the first round, when most failed to fully capture support for the right-wing president.
A survey by AtlastIntel published Thursday had the leftist leader with 52.4% of valid votes, which exclude blank and annulled ballots, and Bolsonaro with 47.6%. A Datafolha poll released the following day had them with 53% and 47%, respectively.
