During the televised presidential debate Sunday night, which included six of Brazil's 12 presidential candidates, incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro portrayed former President and candidate Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva as a corrupt former politician seeking to regain power, while the former accused his right-wing opponent of dragging the country’s economy to rock bottom. 

In his opening speech, Bolsonaro labeled Lula a “thief" and shed light on the so-called “Car Wash” scandal, a scheme that allegedly included kickbacks to politicians and officials of the majority-state-owned Petrobas oil company in exchange for profitable contracts.

Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010, has maintained his innocence and was controversially convicted in 2017 of money laundering and corruption linked to the scheme but was later released from prison in 2019 and the Supreme Court annulled the conviction in 2021.

“Your government was the most corrupt in Brazilian history,” Bolsonaro said during the televised debate, adding: “It was a kleptocracy, a government based on robbery … What do you want to come back to power for? To do the same thing to Petrobras again?” Lula fired back by saying that Bolsonaro was spreading “untruths” and pointed the finger at the president for mismanaging the country and undoing years of economic development and anti-poverty initiatives. Bolsonaro has adopted extremist views against women, Afro-Brazilians, and the left.

“This country has been destroyed,” Lula commented, referring to the increased poverty and hunger, soaring prices, and a surge in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest which has been rapidly decreasing in size under Bolsonaro's presidency. 

Bolsonaro also bore the brunt of attacks from lesser-known candidates, such as centrist candidate Senator Simone Tebet, who seized on Bolsonaro's repeated efforts to undermine the Brazilian election system, which some have claimed is setting the groundwork for him to lead in the footsteps of former US President Donald Trump and challenge the presidential election results. 

“We have a president who threatens democracy. We need to change the president,” stated Tebet, who also emphasized Bolsonaro’s downplaying of the COVID-19 pandemic and spreading of false information related to vaccines, which included wrongfully suggesting that COVID-19 vaccines may lead to the possibility of developing AIDS. A Supreme Court Judge has been asked by police, in an ongoing investigation into the accusations, to charge Bolsonaro on account of discouraging compliance with health measures against COVID-19. 

Bolsonaro, however, sparked the latest outrage by snapping at moderator Vera Magalhaes after she referenced his vaccine disinformation. "Vera, you think about me in your sleep, you must have a crush on me or something, you can’t take part in a debate like this and spread lies and accusations about me. You’re an embarrassment to Brazilian journalism," he said. Following that moment, social media users quickly took to the platforms to accuse Bolsonaro of misogyny.

Although the proceedings saw some stressful moments, none of the candidates appeared to score a possible victory, but Lula entered the event by leading Bolsonaro in opinion polls 47% to 32% but delivered a performance that seemed to die down as the night went on.

Voters will be allowed to head to the polls in October, following a campaign season that Human Rights Watch has noted “is likely to be a critical test for democracy and the rule of law in the country and in Latin America”.

If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of valid votes in the first round on October 2, the election will go to a runoff on October 30.

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