Personal attacks fire up debate before Brazil's run-off vote

Personal attacks intensify debate ahead of Brazil’s run-off vote

Flávio Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are vying for the presidency in a run-off election set for Sunday.

Brazil’s left-wing President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his right-wing challenger, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, faced off in a debate held one week before the presidential run-off.

Polls indicate the two contenders are running almost level, and the televised debate was seen as an opportunity for both to win over undecided voters.

Instead, the encounter was dominated by personal attacks, and analysts have cautioned that the combative tone could push abstention even higher.

In the first round of voting on 4 October, Bolsonaro outperformed opinion polls by taking a narrow lead over Lula.

Sunday’s debate was the first of two scheduled before the vote. The second is due on Friday, just two days before polling begins.

Flávio Bolsonaro is running for the Liberal Party after his father, Jair Bolsonaro — who was in office from 2018 to 2022 — was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for plotting to overthrow Lula after Lula defeated him in the 2022 election.

The younger Bolsonaro won 47% of the vote in the first round, compared with Lula’s 45.2%, with both men falling short of the 50% of valid votes needed to avoid a decisive second round.

Since democracy returned in 1988, no candidate who finished behind in the first round has gone on to win the second, but Lula has told supporters he will "win in extra time".

Analysts speaking to BBC News Brasil were struck by how the debate was driven less by policy than by personal attacks.

Yuri Sanches of pollster AtlasIntel said it was a debate in which no policies were discussed and no rational arguments were made.

"The independent voter, who is sometimes against Bolsonaro and sometimes against the Workers' Party [of Lula], came out of it with a very negative impression."

Lucas Aragão of political analysis firm Arko Advice said Bolsonaro seemed calmer during the debate and appeared to have managed to "get under Lula's skin".

Rafael Cortez of consulting firm da Tendências Consultoria, however, said Lula had landed a blow when he said he would open his financial and phone records, as well as those of his family, to judicial scrutiny, and challenged his rival to do the same before Sunday’s run-off.

Many observers criticised the debate format, which at times was described as chaotic, with each candidate pacing around the TV studio while the other was speaking.

In one heated exchange, Bolsonaro told Lula to come stand beside him so they could talk.

Referring to alleged ties between the senator and paramilitary vigilante groups, Lula said "I don't want to be close to you", adding that he wanted to keep "distance from the Bolsonaro family" and "the militia".

Bolsonaro, who has rejected the allegations as fake news, then tried to provoke Lula by saying, "On second thoughts, maybe it's better to keep my distance so that my wallet isn't stolen."

He also accused the Workers' Party of corruption, holding up the palm of his hand with "CORRUPTO" written on it, the Portuguese word for "corrupt".

Bolsonaro had pointed to the initials of the Workers' Party on his hand.

"Take a piece of paper and a pen and jot down 'corrupt' and you'll see that it has two letters in the middle here together," he said, pointing to PT, the initials of the Workers' Party in Portuguese.

Bolsonaro, who is campaigning on a hardline approach to crime, challenged Lula to explain why crime rates had risen during his four years in power.

He also claimed, without offering any evidence, that "the majority of convicts vote for Lula".

Lula responded with a barely disguised reference to Flávio’s convicted father, Jair, saying; "I wish it was 100%, even your father".