Elections to the Presidency
It was the first time that both candidates debated alone on television and there was no lack of insults and cross accusations
Insults, mutual accusations… The candidates for the Presidency of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro, have starred in a tense televised face-to-face in the framework of the electoral campaign just before the start of the second round, which will be will be held on October 30.
It was the first time that both candidates debated alone -on previous occasions they were accompanied by other candidates, who were already ruled out in the first round-, so it was expected that the face-to-face meeting would be one of arms. So it was. The main topics of the debate have been poverty, the coronavirus pandemic and corruption, with the aim of wearing down the adversary and ensuring the support of voters.
The former president and leader of the Workers’ Party (PT), Lula da Silva, has started the debate by criticizing the current president for his management during the Covid-19 pandemic. She criticized the delay in the purchase of vaccines and the high number of deaths recorded in the country. «You are a liar, the king of ‘fake news’, Lula dedicated to him. “You discredited vaccines, you made fun of people who die from lack of oxygen. No one in the world made fun of the pandemic and death like you,” he censored.
For his part, Bolsonaro has raised the corruption scandals in the governments of the Workers’ Party (PT), between 2003 and 2016, responding that his opponent “did nothing for the country.” “Petrobras was the biggest corruption scandal in humanity. They looted 90,000 million reais (about 18,000 million dollars). You put the money in your butt and shared it with your friends,” Bolsonaro snapped at Lula in one of the harshest moments of the debate.
When the president began to question Lula about the scandals involving the state oil giant, the leftist leader tried to change the subject, unsuccessfully, spending too much time responding. Lula acknowledged that there was corruption in the state oil company, but assured that everything was discovered due to the transparency of his Executive. The time had to be managed by the candidates, so he gave Bolsonaro five minutes in a row at the end of the face-to-face.
The far-right leader took advantage of the final stretch of the debate to bring out Lula’s relationship with Latin American presidents such as Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega, Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro, Colombian Gustavo Petro or Argentine Alberto Fernández, whom he links to communism. .
The debate rose in decibels. Lula called Bolsonaro a “little dictator,” a “liar” and a “cheek,” while the current head of state said his predecessor is “a national disgrace” and a “thief.” In an ironic tone, Lula snapped at Bolsonaro, a captain in the Army reserve, that when he was a deputy, he “flattered” him and “felt proud” of having him as president, for the treatment he gave the military.
In the first round of the elections it was Lula who was the winner with 48 percent of the votes, while Bolsonaro got 43 percent of the ballots, on October 2. According to the polls, the leader of the Workers’ Party continues to lead the presidential race, although the polls indicate tighter results.
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