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In Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, the last debate was held on Thursday night before the presidential elections on Sunday, where seven candidates will face each other, including the favorites, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who the polls give him as the winner, and Jair Bolsonaro, the current president.
Amid mutual accusations of corruption, the favorite candidates in Brazil’s elections this Sunday, the current far-right president Jair Bolsonaro and the former left-wing president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, faced each other in the last presidential debate, along with five other politicians.
The meeting in Rio de Janeiro, which was marked by the lack of proposals to solve the country’s structural problems such as poverty and high unemployment, was televised by the Globo television channel, lasted more than three hours, was divided into four blocs and the candidates could choose among themselves who they addressed the questions to.
During the first ten minutes, the hottest of the debate, Bolsonaro accused Lula of being the head of a criminal gang and said that “what is at stake in the elections is the future of the Nation. Brazil was a kleptocracy. We cannot continue in the country of theft”, with the idea of reminding voters of the diversion of resources from the state oil company Petrobras.
The president continued his attack and called him an “ex-prisoner” because he was imprisoned for corruption and despite the fact that his sentence was annulled by the Supreme Court.
The former president attacked the current leader and described him as a “shameless” liar, after covering up the alleged theft for the purchase of vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In fact, Lula said that he would lift the 100 years of secrecy that Bolsonaro promised to keep about the negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies made by the Ministry of Health and that he will also investigate the president’s children for alleged corruption.
Lula was the target of criticism not only from Bolsonaro but from the other candidates. One of them, Father Kelmon, who is accused of being Bolsonaro’s assistant and claims to be an Orthodox bishop, although he is not endorsed by this Church, told him that “several of his accomplices were imprisoned and said that you were the head of the largest network of corruption in world history. You should not be here as a candidate. You are cynical, you lie and you are an actor.”
The former president responded bluntly and heatedly and told him that he “will be president again because the Brazilian people are tired of people of his kind. Your behavior is that of a Pharisee. You are an impostor. A father in disguise.” After these statements, the debate had to be interrupted for a few minutes.
Ciro Gomes, Labor candidate, who was a minister in Lula’s first government, reminded him that many of the people who had worked with the former president confessed that they stole, so “it’s not enough to say that nothing happened.”
Attacks also against Bolsonaro
The other candidates took the opportunity to go spear in hand also against Jair Bolosonaro. Simone Tebet, from the Brazilian Democratic Movement party, MDB, announced that if he won he would reverse Bolsonaro’s policies in the Amazon jungle that allow deforestation.
Soraya Thronicke asked Bolsonaro unceremoniously if he would recognize the results of the elections or if, on the contrary, he would stage a coup. The president did not answer anything.
The Datafolha pollster says that Lula has 50% of the votes while Bolsonaro has 36%. The main polls show that the former president has an advantage of 10 or 15 percentage points over his main contender, so he could win in the first round.
If a second round is necessary, it will be on October 30.
With Reuters and EFE
