The leftist frontrunner to become Brazil’s next president branded the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, “a tiny little dictator” and “the king of fake news and stupidity” during a television debate that will help define the political future of one of the world’s biggest democracies.
Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who nearly beat Bolsonaro in the presidential election’s first round in September, admonished his opponent over his handling of Covid and soaring Amazon deforestation during the feisty two-hour encounter.
“The fact is that your negligence ensured that 680,000 people died – more than half of whom could have been saved,” Lula told Bolsonaro, whose sabotage of coronavirus containment measures and vaccination efforts caused global outrage.
“Never before in history was there a government that fooled around with a pandemic or with death as you did,” Lula, 76, said of Bolsonaro, who belittled Covid as “a little flu” and claims he has not been vaccinated.
Lula, whom polls give a five or six-point lead over Bolsonaro ahead of the 30 October run-off, also attacked his rival’s assault on the environment. “You showed no respect for the Amazon – none at all,” Lula said, vowing to create a ministry for native peoples if elected.
“We are going to win these elections so we can take care of the Amazon and outlaw the invasion of Indigenous lands and illegal mining.”
Bolsonaro counterattacked in what was the first face-to-face debate between the two politicians during this year’s fractious struggle for power.
The far-right radical, who was elected in 2018 after Lula was jailed on corruption charges that were later quashed, berated his adversary for the corruption scandals that blighted the 14 years his Worker’s party (PT) spent in power, from 2003 to 2016. “You’re a national embarrassment,” Bolsonaro declared during the debate in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo.
Bolsonaro accused Lula of cosying up to leftist autocrats including the leaders of Nicaragua and Venezuela, Daniel Ortega and Nicolás Maduro. But Lula rejected those accusations, claiming it was Bolsonaro – a former soldier notorious for celebrating dictators such as Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet – who posed a threat to Brazil’s young democracy.
“My opponent is basically the most shameless liar that exists,” Lula said. “I’m the one who defends democracy and freedom – much more than this tiny little dictator … I want to govern this country democratically as I have twice before,” said the former union leader, who governed from 2003 to 2010.
Progressive Brazilians had hoped Lula would sweep to an emphatic victory over Bolsonaro in the election’s first round – but the Donald Trump-admiring populist fared better than most polls had predicted, securing 43% of votes to Lula’s 48%. Polls had forecast Bolsonaro would receive no more than 37%.
Lula is still the favourite to win but Bolsonaro’s better-than-expected performance means the election is likely to remain a nailbiter until the results are announced.
In recent days both candidates have embarked on a campaign blitz in the three south-eastern states that should decide the outcome, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Together they are home to nearly 64 million of Brazil’s 156 million voters.
Last week Lula visited one of Rio’s largest favelas, the Complexo do Alemão, in a bid to win over working-class voters.
Bolsonaro risked alienating hundreds of thousands of favela residents during Sunday’s debate by suggesting that Lula had visited the community to socialise with criminals. “There weren’t any police around you – just drug traffickers,” Bolsonaro said, sparking outrage from favela activists.
“Bolsonaro doesn’t like the poor. Bolsonaro doesn’t like black people. Bolsonaro doesn’t like those from the favela,” tweeted Rene Silva, the Complexo do Alemão media activist who arranged Lula’s visit to the favela.
