Lula leads the race in polls with 47 % voting intentions, compared to 32 % for Jair Bolsonaro, according to the DataFolha Institute. Other surveys give a lesser advance to Lula.
Le Monde with AFP
The two main candidates for the presidency of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro and Lula, accused each other of all the ailments of the country in a first television face-to-face on Sunday August 28 before the October election.
These two rivals, central figures in the recent history of Brazil, compete for the first time publicly. “His government was the most corrupt in the history of Brazil,” launched the outgoing president of the far right.
The interested party, 76, replied by defending his government assessment (2003-2010) in terms of social reforms. According to him, Mr. Bolsonaro, 67, “is destroying” the country. The two candidates have mutually accused of lying.
Jair Bolsonaro refuses to shake hands with Lula
In the first part of the debate, which must last a total of three hours, Lula focused his speech around the defense of the environment and the Amazon. As for Jair Bolsonaro, he had told journalists before this meeting that he did not see any disadvantage in finding himself in front of the ex-president of the left, but that he will not “hug (it) A thief “, in reference to the corruption case within the Public Petrolege Petrobras company.
Lula leads the race in polls with 47 % voting intentions, compared to 32 % for Jair Bolsonaro, according to the DataFolha Institute. Other polls give a lesser advance to Lula.
In addition to the two favorites, the organizers of the debate invited four other candidates, including the former Minister of Finance Ciro Gomes of the PDT (Center-Gauche) and Senator Simone Tebet of the MDB (centrist), respectively third and fourth in Surveys.
In 2018, the year he won the election, Mr. Bolsonaro only participated in the first two debates. A month before the first round, he was stabbed during a meeting and, after having undergone surgery, did not take up the debates.