Freewheeling debate rules allowed candidates to roam the stage exchanging jabs and personal insults.
Far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his left-wing rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva exchanged blows and insults as they clashed in their first head-to-head debate in the second and final round of the election Brazilian presidential.
Lula attacked Bolsonaro as a “little dictator” and the “king of fake news”, while Bolsonaro accused Lula of lying, corruption and a “shameful” record during a two-hour televised debate on Sunday evening.
Voters go to the polls on On October 30 to choose the man who will become the next president of Brazil with Lula, 76, the charismatic but tarnished former president, holding the head of Bolsonaro.
Lula has criticized Bolsonaro for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, attacking his resistance to vaccines and his embrace of unproven drugs such as hydroxychloroquine.
“Your negligence resulted in the death of 680,000 people, when more than half could have been saved,” the former steelworker told the president.
Bolsonaro then went on the offensive and targeted Lula for corruption scandals during the 14 years his Workers’ Party ruled Brazil. Dozens of business leaders and politicians, including Lula, were arrested in a sweeping corruption crackdown, and Lula served time in jail for a corruption conviction that was later overturned by the Supreme Court of Brazil.
“Your past is shameful… You haven’t done anything for Brazil except stuff public money into your pockets and those of your friends,” the 67-year-old former army captain told Lula .
‘Chew your nails’
Lula won 48% of the vote in the first round of the election, with Bolsonaro securing 43%, far more than opinion polls had suggested.
His surprisingly strong performance set the stage for a hard-fought runoff with both candidates stepping up their rhetoric and unleashing deadly personal attacks in TV ads.
“This is a tough election,” said Al Jazeera Brazil correspondent Monica Yanakiew. “The two candidates are fighting for every vote even though Lula is still the favourite.”
The rules of the freewheeling debate allowed the candidates to roam the stage and approach the cameras, which the two did frequently although they rarely looked at each other, with the notable exception of a tense silence that Bolsonaro eventually broke. interrupted by putting his hand on Lula’s shoulder with a smile.
As was the case for much of the campaign, far more time was spent on personal attacks than substantive discussions.
“Political proposals have lost their central role and accusations have taken their place,” political scientist Christopher Mendonca told the AFP news agency.
Bolsonaro’s campaign was counting on Sunday’s debate to help close the gap with Lula, who still has a lead of around 5 percentage points, according to polls from pollster Datafolha.
Neither candidate detailed in the debate how they would raise funds to expand a more generous welfare program, which both promised to do without breaking federal budget rules.
