Brazil’s two main presidential candidates, Jair Bolsonaro and Lula, blamed each other for all the country’s ills in a first televised confrontation on Sunday before the October elections.
These two rivals, central figures in the recent history of Brazil, face each other publicly for the first time. “His government was the most corrupt in the history of Brazil,” he launched against Lula (favorite according to the polls), the outgoing president of the extreme right.
The 76-year-old interested party responded by defending his government record (2003-2010) in terms of social reforms. According to him, Jair Bolsonaro, 67, “is destroying” the country.
Lula leads in the polls
Jair Bolsonaro had told journalists before this meeting that he saw no problem in confronting the former leftist president, but that “he would not shake hands with a thief”, referring to the case of corruption within the public oil company. Petrobras company.
Lula leads the race in the polls with 47% of voting intentions, compared to 32% for Jair Bolsonaro, according to the Datafolha institute. Other polls give Lula a smaller lead.
In addition to the two favorites, the debate organizers have invited four other candidates, including former Finance Minister Ciro Gomes of the PDT (centre-left) and Senator Simone Tebet of the MDB (centrist), respectively third and fourth in the polls. .
In 2018, the year he won the elections, Jair Bolsonaro only participated in the first two debates. A month before the first round, he was stabbed during a match and, after undergoing surgery, did not resume the debates.
Source: BFM TV
