Issues such as corruption, threats to democracy and misogyny were at the center of the first presidential debate in Brazil, ahead of the general elections next October. The exchange of accusations between President Jair Bolsonaro, who is running for re-election, and his main rival, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, heated up the first face-to-face meeting. The meeting on Sunday, August 28, featured six of the 12 candidates for the Executive.
Hate, passion, accusations and a record audience. As if it were one of the famous fictional dramas of the Latin American giant, the first face-to-face for the Presidency of Brazil drew attention and sparks among the candidates.
The accusations about corruption, misogyny, the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and an offense by the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, to a journalist during the discussion marked the first debate between those who aspire to occupy the Planalto Palace after the October elections. .
Bolsonaro took aim at his main rival at the polls, the popular former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, when he accused him of leading the “most corrupt” government in Brazilian history, citing the scandal involving state oil company Petrobras.
“Why do you want to return to power? To continue doing the same thing at Petrobras?” said the current president in the middle of the debate in which a total of six of the 12 registered candidates participated, but which was marked by the exchange of accusations between Lula and Bolsonaro.
The investigation to which the president referred led the 76-year-old former president to prison, between 2018 and 2019, for controversial corruption charges that were annulled by the country’s Supreme Court in 2021.
Da Silva hit back at Bolsonaro by accusing him of “destroying Brazil” and “spreading lies.”
“The country that I left is a country that people miss, it is the country of work, where people had the right to live with dignity, with their heads held high (…) This is the country that the current president is destroying,” he assured. the leftist political leader and who governed the Latin American giant between 2003 and 2010.
Although Lula emphasized that his Administration is remembered for its legacy of economic growth and the measures it took to reduce poverty, his convictions for bribery are the main reproach of his political opponents.
Misogyny and offense against a journalist added rejections towards Bolsonaro
The candidates also faced off with the fair overshadowed by questions about President Bolsonaro’s treatment of women, an issue that may be crucial to his re-election chances.
But if there were already shadows over the current president for his treatment of this part of the population, his position worsened when, in the middle of the debate, Bolsonaro yelled at the journalist Vera Magalhães, who asked if the adoption of vaccines against Covid-19 was has been affected by disinformation spread by various people, including the president.
“Vera, I couldn’t expect anything else from you. You sleep thinking about me, you have some kind of passion for me,” said Bolsonaro, who later accused her of taking sides and lying. “You are an embarrassment to Brazilian journalism!” she pointed out.
Immediately, there was an avalanche of criticism among the participants against Bolsonaro and they extended their solidarity with the communicator.
Candidate Soraya Thronicke, who won a Senate seat in 2018 with Bolsonaro’s support, responded that she was “extremely upset” by his comments to Magalhães, calling them an example of a man who is “a pussycat with other men and comes to us (women) like a big tiger”.
“Attacks on the senator and the journalist will cost him,” wrote pol. analyst @traumann. “Bolsonaro tried reducing his rejection rate among the poorest women by using his wife, Michelle. However, the debate threw it all out the window.”
Also said Tebet was debate’s “headliner”. pic.twitter.com/l8Kx7HuMys
— David Biller (@DLBiller) August 29, 2022
Other candidates, including Lula da Silva and Ciro Gomes, expressed their solidarity with the journalist, when at the time the issue distracted from the confrontation between the two clear favorites: Bolsonaro and Da Silva.
Senator Simone Tebet, whom Bolsonaro also called “a shame in the Senate,” asked him directly: “Why so much anger against women?”
Bolsonaro, for his part, countered that his opponents were launching a “cheap attack” and defended his government’s record in helping women.
“Enough of victimization, we are all equal (…) I sanctioned more than 60 laws to defend women and I am sure that a large number of Brazilian women love me because I defend the family and oppose the liberation of drugs” , he indicated.
Still, the president’s aggressiveness tends to resonate with his die-hard supporters, but alienates undecided voters, said Mário Sérgio Lima, a senior political analyst at Medley Global Advisors in Sao Paulo.
“He lost his composure with a female journalist, highlighting his Achilles heel, which is his high rejection among women (…) This is very difficult to change in a campaign when you cannot hide your disdain for women in general, and they are more than half of the voters”, highlighted the expert.
According to a recent survey by the Datafolha pollster, 47% of the women surveyed intend to vote for Lula da Silva and 29% for Bolsonaro. The poll of 5,744 people found that 29% of them could still change their vote. She has a margin of error of about two percentage points.
The accusations surrounding the judiciary and the management of the pandemic
Some of the harshest criticism that the head of state faced in the discussion also came from his disagreements with the country’s judicial branch.
“We have a president who threatens democracy. We need to change the president,” said Senator Simone Tebet, a candidate for the Executive for the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement party, when asked how to resolve the current conflict between the government and the judiciary.
The legislator’s words came about because Bolsonaro accused that branch of overreaching when he authorized a police operation against several businessmen who supported his re-election, after a local media report accused them of discussing a coup on social media. State if Bolsonaro lost.
👈👈主页 Brazil presidential election: Bolsonaro and Lula clash in television debate: Brazil is set to elect a new president in October. pic.twitter.com/EKXUt1GABb
— 优质幼女萝莉嫩穴💞电报群兄妹系列父女小马乱伦偷拍厕拍破处 (@EliRob29575067) August 29, 2022
Likewise, Tebet accused the far-right leader of delaying the purchase of vaccines and spreading false news about Covid-19. She even claimed that some of her ministers intimidated her during an investigation by the Upper House into the government’s response to the virus.
“I’m not afraid of you,” the lawmaker said in the debate, pointing a finger at the president.
Without a doubt, his handling of the pandemic, which led Brazil to be one of the nations most affected by the health emergency, is another of the great Achilles heels of the man who aspires to re-election.
In addition, his attacks on Brazil’s electronic voting system have drawn him criticism over alleged threats to democracy and raised concerns that he could challenge the results if he loses at the polls.
Voting intention polls favor Lula
Projections show a double-digit lead for Lula over Bolsonaro.
The latest opinion polls by the Datafolha institute show 47% support for Lula, compared to 32% for Bolsonaro.
If no contender manages to win more than 50% of the valid votes in the first round on October 2, the election will go to a second round on October 30.
With Reuters, AP, EFE and local media
#Lula #Bolsonaro #sparks #removed #presidential #debate