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‘Liar’, ‘corrupt’. Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and current President Jair Bolsonaro, favorites in Sunday’s Brazilian elections, exchanged insults and accusations in a bellicose final debate. Lula is the favourite.
The traditional debate on TV Globo, the most anticipated before the elections, was the second televised duel with the presence of the two leaders in the polls and was anticipated to be electrifying, seen as the last great opportunity to attract the vote of the undecided.
In his first speech, Bolsonaro, 67, accused Lula, 76, of having been the head of a “gang” of thieves, during the governments of his Workers’ Party (PT) (2003-2016), including calling him a “liar” and a “traitor to the country”.
He was referring to the Petrobras scandal, for which the former metalworker was jailed for 18 months in 2018 and 2019, before his conviction was overturned by the supreme court.
Lula, who had been criticized for avoiding accusations of corruption in the first television duel, decided this time to go on the attack.
“If he saw himself in the mirror and knew what was happening in his government, what the vaccine gang was,” the former president launched, accusing his rival of irregularities during the purchase of antigens against covid.
The polls even reflect the possibility that Lula wins in the first round on Sunday, according to a survey published this Thursday by the Datafolha Institute, which gives the former president a 14-point advantage and 50% of the valid votes.
“On October 2, the people are going to send you home,” the leftist added, lamenting a president who “blatantly lies at all times.”
“There is nothing against my government,” Bolsonaro snapped, continuing to attack with the microphone turned off, which earned him a call to order from the moderator.
The spirits later calmed down, but in the more than three hours of discussions, few concrete proposals were presented by the seven candidates present (of the 11 in contention).