Brazil’s presidential run-off debate ended with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro trading attacks over spending, the economy and public security as polls suggested the candidates were level ahead of Sunday’s vote.
The televised encounter in Rio de Janeiro, broadcast by TV Globo on Friday, was the final debate before the election. The candidates also challenged each other on infrastructure and regional development.
Lula criticised Bolsonaro’s proposal to make deep cuts to public spending, comparing it with the approach of Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei.
“I’ll have the same job here [as Milei in Argentina] because you’re leaving the country bankrupt,” Bolsonaro replied.
Bolsonaro, the son of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, accused the incumbent of allowing organised crime to grow, pushing families into debt and failing to tackle the rising cost of living.
“He doesn’t know what hunger is,” Lula said. Bolsonaro responded: “Why are things so expensive?” Lula also questioned his rival’s experience, telling him: “He doesn’t know Brazil.”
Tense exchanges in Brazil presidential run-off debate
The debate was more diplomatic than the candidates’ first meeting on Sunday, although it included several personal confrontations.
Bolsonaro referred to Lula as “Nine Fingers”, a derogatory nickname linked to an accident the president suffered while working as a metalworker. Lula, who is 80, demanded an apology, which Bolsonaro gave.
Lula called Bolsonaro a vigilante in response to allegations that the candidate has links to paramilitary groups in Rio de Janeiro. Bolsonaro said he would classify such groups as “narcoterrorists”.
Another tense exchange involved the mother of a five-year-old child killed in a shootout involving a police officer whom Bolsonaro had represented as a lawyer. Bolsonaro said he did not believe his client was guilty.
Bolsonaro came first in the initial round on October 4, winning 47 per cent of the vote to Lula’s 45 per cent. But a Datafolha survey published on Thursday put the two candidates level on 50 per cent each, after Bolsonaro held a four-point lead in polling two weeks earlier.
Both men were expected to join supporters on the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo for their final campaign efforts before Sunday’s run-off.
