Bolsonaro and Lula sparks were removed in the first presidential debate

The president of Brazil and candidate for re-election, Jair Bolsonaro, and his main rival for the October 2 elections, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, accused each other this Sunday of lying and they raised the voltage of the first televised debate of the campaign, which included an insult by the head of state to a journalist who intervened in the Bandeirantes TV program.

Leader in the polls the founder of the Workers’ Party (PT) was the target chosen by Bolsonaro, who accused him of having commanded between 2003 and 2010 the “most corrupt government in history” for the diversions in the state-owned Petrobras in the Lava Jato scandal for the who was convicted and later acquitted for being a victim of “lawfare“.

The head of state called Lula twice “an ex-convict”who replied that “it is cleaner than the president and his family” and promised to eliminate the decrees with state secrets for 100 years signed by Bolsonaro on expenses and people with whom he meets.

In turn, Lula responded that his government was the one that improved people’s lives and the one that had the most transparency in the state and accused Bolsonaro of having “abandoned” the people, after stating that in 2018 he was imprisoned to prevent him from winning. .

The far-right president starred in the most violent moment of the night by insulting the journalist Vera Magalhaes, who asked about the government’s role in the pandemic and Bolsonaro replied that “it was a shame for journalism” for addressing this issue, after which was repudiated by his colleagues.

Lula and Bolsonaro participated for the first time in a face-to-face debate as the favorites, held at the station in the Morumbí neighborhood of São Paulo, where the candidates Ciro Gomes, of the Democratic Labor Party (PDT); Senator Simone Tebet, from the Brazilian Democracy Movement (MDB) of former President Michel Temer; Senator Soraya Thronicke, of the Brazilian Union, of former judge Sergio Moro; and Felipe D’Avila, from the libertarian Partido Novo, ex-Bolsonarista.

Tebet and Thronicke tried to position themselves before the voters – for whom they are not well known – and attacked Bolsonaro’s statements. The MDB senator accused him of being a “misogynist” and a defender of rapists and torturers of women in the military dictatorship.

Bolsonaro later said that there is a “victimization of women” and championed the conservative anti-abortion agenda. He even said that he freed the possession of weapons so that peasant women can defend themselves.

According to real-time surveys released by the press, Ciro Gomes was the best evaluated by Internet users, presenting himself as a “peacemaker.”

The PDT candidate has between 5 and 8% of voting intention and discussed with Lula, of whom he was Minister of Cities for three years.

Gomes said that Lula is a “snake charmer” and that the PT caused an economic and political crisis in the government of Dilma Rousseff that allowed “the emergence of Bolsonaro.”

Lula foisted on him that in 2018 he went to Paris during the second round to avoid campaigning for Fernando Haddad in the election in which Bolsonaro won, although he affirmed that Gomes’ PDT will be summoned to compose an eventual government.

Gomes also distributed questions towards the current head of state.

“Bolsonaro corrupted all his wives and all his children. He has no heart or scruples. You simulated suffocation when people died of Covid-19”he said in cross reviews.

For its part, Lula accused Bolsonaro of not “shedding a single tear” for those killed by the pandemic and questioned him for denialism with the vaccine, while Tebet supported the former president and said that there was corruption in the current president’s Ministry of Health to acquire the Indian vaccine Covaxin in advance in a tax haven.

Lula, who governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010, leads the electoral race with 47% of the intention to vote against 32% for Bolsonaro, according to a survey by the Datafolha Institute published on August 18. Other polls also place Lula in the lead, although with a smaller advantage.

Bolsonaro’s objective is to recover points or subtract support from Lula to reach the second electoral round.

Tebet’s move, according to analysts, was to accompany Lula while Bolsonaro’s hope is that Labor Gomes will scratch votes from the PT leader.

Lula and Bolsonaro promised that next year, if they are elected, they will maintain the 600 reais social program.

Lula accused Bolsonaro of having lied because the 2023 budget sent to Congress does not include an increase in the subsidy.

Faced with the promises of privatization by the tycoon D’Avila and the motel businesswoman in Mato Grosso do Sul Thronicke, Lula defended the policies of social inclusion and job creation, promising a reform in the legislation to allow labor rights to the informal workers, especially to couriers who work for delivery applications.

“The poor will be respected again, it is not possible for a worker to deliver food without being able to buy what to eat. We must legalize the life of that citizen and give him citizenship. Slavery ended in 1888. No 21st century slavery,” Lula assured. .

The president, for his part, denied the existence of 33 million hungry people saying that it is an “exaggeration” and manipulated data to indicate that the current social plan is greater than the one paid by the PT governments.

At the door of the channel there were groups of militants from the PT and Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.

During the exchange between the favorites, former Bolsonaro Environment Minister Ricardo Salles shoved Lulista deputy André Janones behind the scenes of the television broadcast.