On Sunday, the Brazilians will decide whether Bolsonaro will continue at the head of state or whether ex-President Lula will return to office. In a last exchange of blows on TV, there is little about content, but the opponents use wild insults.
Immediately before Sunday’s runoff election for the presidency in Brazil, the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his left-leaning challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva exchanged blows one last time. In a television duel that lasted a good two hours, the two candidates accused each other of lying. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro has received support from ex-US President Donald Trump.
Lula, who was Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2011, called Bolsonaro the “biggest liar in Brazilian history” in the televised debate. Bolsonaro, in turn, described Lula as a “bandit” who considers himself the advocate of the poor – Lula spent a total of 18 months in prison for his involvement in the corruption scandal involving the state oil company Petrobras in 2018 and 2019. Last year, the sentences imposed on him were overturned by Brazil’s Supreme Court on formal grounds.
Lula also attacked his opponent over his foreign policy – an issue that had almost never been raised in previous televised debates. “Under your government, Brazil has become a pariah. Nobody wants to welcome you and nobody comes here,” he accused Bolsonaro.
The entire duel was mainly characterized by mutual accusations. The journalist Octavio Guedes then spoke of “an anti-debate without any news”. This did not change the situation. According to a survey published on Thursday, Lula had slightly increased his lead before the duel: 53 percent of the votes would go to him on Sunday, 47 percent to the far-right incumbent.
Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has received support from former US President Donald Trump. “Elect President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday – he will never let you down,” Trump wrote on the online service Truth Social. Bolsonaro is a “great person with a very big heart”. Trump’s challenger, Lula, described him as a “radical left-wing madman” who would “quickly destroy” Brazil.
Meanwhile, in the metropolitan area of ??Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, a former councilor from Lula’s party was killed in a shootout. The Brazilian news portal “G1” reported that the police had “initial suspicions” that it was “political revenge”. A deputy told the newspaper “O Globo” that everything indicated “that it was the act of a Bolsonaro supporter in a climate of intolerance that prevails in the country”.
On Saturday, Bolsonaro and Lula wanted to campaign for votes at last rallies before the two candidates compete in the runoff on Sunday. The election campaign in Brazil, which was already characterized by smear campaigns and aggressive verbal arguments, has increasingly resembled a mud fight since the first round of voting four weeks ago. In the first round of voting on October 2, Lula got 48 percent of the votes, Bolsonaro got 43 percent.
