Brazil heads to the polls without a single debate between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro

Brazilian broadcaster Globo on Thursday cancelled, an hour before it was due to start, the last presidential debate scheduled before Sunday's first round, following a series of court rulings and the absence of both President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. The two leading candidates thus head to the polls without having faced each other in a single televised debate during the entire campaign. Lula had announced on Wednesday that he would not attend and would instead give an interview on the Flow podcast at the same time. At the request of his campaign, which cited a “potential imbalance”, Superior Electoral Court judge Estela Aranha barred the broadcaster from showing the president's empty lectern and from allowing other candidates to direct questions to it, two points included in the rules agreed with the contenders. The judge noted that attendance at debates is “optional”. Following that ruling, Bolsonaro said he would not attend either. “I have just decided not to go to the Globo debate because of the censorship imposed on the event by the TSE. The press must be free and elections must be clean,” said the Liberal Party candidate. Supreme Federal Court justice Gilmar Mendes then ordered the inclusion of Renan Santos of the Missão party, who did not meet the requirement of having at least five members of Congress. Globo said in a statement that “successive court decisions taken moments before the debate create legal uncertainty and represent undue interference in the media's freedom to organise debates”. In the interview, Lula called the format “fruitless”, said it allowed “little jokes” from candidates with less support and proposed that debates be organised according to each candidate's electoral weight. “I like you better than Globo,” he told the host. Thursday was also the last day of electoral advertising. Lula, who turns 81 on October 27, said: “This is my last election,” and pledged to shorten the working week to eliminate Saturday work. Bolsonaro called for leaving behind “the old system” and avoided direct attacks on the president. Polls show them in a statistical tie in a possible runoff. Top Comments Disclaimer & comment rules- Jack Bauer - Brasileiro Read all commentsBrasileiro, aka Brasshole, when will you get your facts right and stop telling 'little' lies ? Posted 51 minutes ago 0I liked your comment “....who is the only right-wing candidate to ask “Little Bolsonaro” embarrassing questions about corruption”. Well, first of all Renan Santos is a radical idiot, and second, it's a well known fact that the biggest crook that Brazil has ever had, is nine-fingers himself....do the names “Mensalão”, “Petrolão”, ”Fundos de Pensão (das Estatais )”, INSS (Lulinha), ”Banco Master (Rui Pimenta da Costa, Jacques Wagner)” ring a bell ??? For those who don't know, they are names of humungous financial and corruption scandals that occurred in Brasil since the PT got into power, in 2003, which diverted hundreds of billions of Reais of taxpayers' money, into the pockets of politicians (maily of leftist parties), through clever corruption schemes thought up by Nine-fingers and his cronies.....one thing they all have in common is the ugly finger-print of the PT. And, last of all, it's a notorious fact that Globo, like most of the MSM, has always favoured the left, especiall Nine-fingers, due to his generous handouts - of billions per year - to keep them happy and to ignore the left's incompetence and stealing.... Brazzo, happy voting on Sunday.... The mobster's absence was not due to the removal of President Lula's podium from the arena, but rather to the authorization for the participation of right-wing extremist Renan Santos—of the Missão Party—who is the only right-wing candidate to ask “Little Bolsonaro” embarrassing questions about corruption. Posted 9 hours ago -1Globo, an ally of the Brazilian right and of the fascist Donald Trump, would never allow “Little Bolsonaro” to be humiliated on camera. Lula did the right thing, and with the support of the Catholic Church, I see a strong possibility of him emerging victorious in the first round. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8_pNmj24428 Please log in or register (it’s free!) to comment. Login with Facebook