Lula and Bolsonaro in dead heat as Brazil goes to polls
Polls show the two rivals tied as religion and a disputed patron-saint claim dominate the final days of campaigning.
- On Thursday, TV Globo canceled Brazil's final presidential debate after frontrunners President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro declined to attend, depriving voters of a last-minute face-off before Sunday's election.
- Lula refused to attend, arguing "You cannot bring someone who has 49% to debate with someone who has 1%," citing unfair matchups with lower-polling candidates.
- Citing "censorship imposed by the electoral court," Bolsonaro withdrew hours before airtime after TSE rulings removed his opponent's empty seat and forced inclusion of candidate Renan Santos.
- The cancellation deprived about 158 million voters of a final face-off, marking the first time in 20 years that Brazil's leading candidates rejected a public confrontation before voting.
- Candidates may face renewed pressure to debate during the three weeks before an October 25 runoff if neither wins outright on Sunday, shifting their avoidance strategy.
272 Articles
272 Articles
On Sunday, October 4, Brazil will elect president and vice president, as well as governors, senators and deputies.
A false religious proposal attributed to Flávio Bolsonaro has favored Lula's campaign a few days before the first round scheduled for this Sunday.
Shortly before the presidential election, Brazil's judiciary is making TV channel Globo cancel the last planned debate. Media associations speak of »judiciary abuse«. A scandal with consequences for Lula and Bolsonaro.
Faith, rhetoric and the ballot box: How religion has shaped Brazil’s current presidential election
In the last few days before the 2026 elections, Flávio Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — Brazil’s two leading presidential candidates — were embroiled in controversies centered on the same issue: religion. On Aug. 23, during a debate in one of Brazil’s main TV networks, Flávio Bolsonaro, son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro, released a video promising that one of his first acts, if elected, would be to declare that “Brazil belon…
If there was still any doubt or hope that the Brazilian electorate would have a last chance to evaluate the presidential candidates for the next four years in a debate between them, a sequence of individual judicial decisions, with...
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