Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro clash in bad-tempered run-off debate

Brazil's leftist president Lula da Silva faced right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in the first televised debate of the country's presidential run-off campaign, ahead of next week's second-round vote. The exchange covered crime, corruption and health care, but it repeatedly turned into personal attacks. Both candidates accused each other of lying.

Lula said that the Senator was worse than his father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted for a botched coup attempt. The debate was marked by frequent interruptions and heated exchanges, and it drew a harsh assessment from Fabio de Sá e Silva, an associate professor of international studies and co-director of the Center for Brazil Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He called it 'by far the worst debate that I have seen in my life', saying it offered little chance for a meaningful discussion of policy.

De Sá e Silva said Lula did not seem well prepared and missed opportunities under the debate rules. He described Flavio Bolsonaro as aggressive and dismissive, and said the Senator threw false claims at the debate. The analyst said the public may give Lula a discount because his record is known, but that Flavio Bolsonaro came across as an echo of his father and not ready to preside over Brazil. He gave Lula the win by points, not by a knockout, and said the event left a sense that it did not meet public expectations.

The debate comes after Flavio Bolsonaro finished on top in the first round, with a lead of less than two percentage points. De Sá e Silva said that is an unusually close margin in Brazil, where the first-round leader normally has a stronger advantage. He said Lula has mobilised his supporters to try to reverse the result, but that the electorate is solidly divided on both sides. If Lula overturns the first-round result, the analyst said, it would be by a tiny margin. He described the race as tied, with a small advantage for Flavio Bolsonaro.