Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Lula face off in final debate
Both address economic strain
SAO PAULO — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva faced off in a final debate before their runoff election Sunday, focusing mainly on economic hardships.
It is an issue that could sway some of the few undecided voters in the tight race between the far-right incumbent and the leftist challenger as they clashed Friday night in a broadcast on the nation’s biggest TV network.
Da Silva, who leads in opinion polls as he seeks to return to the job he held from 2003 to 2010, once more pledged to boost spending on the poor, though he did not outline a clear plan on how he would achieve that.
He also highlighted that Bolsonaro’s government hasn’t yet provided an increase to the minimum wage above inflation.
“This man governed for four years and there was not 1 percent of a real increase,” da Silva said at the TV Globo debate in Rio de Janeiro, which lasted 2½ hours. He said the minimum wage is now worth less than when Bolsonaro was inaugurated.
Bolsonaro quickly promised to lift the minimum wage from $229 a month to $265 next year, though that wasn’t included in his 2023 budget proposal sent to Congress. He said the economic downturn that accompanied the pandemic prevented a minimum wage boost, but pointed to firming economic activity.
“We did better than you would have done,” the president said to da Silva. “We have one of the world’s best economies now.”
Mario Sérgio Lima, a senior Brazil analyst for Medley Global Advisors, said the final debate probably would not sway many voters.
“Bolsonaro needed to score a big win . ... He didn’t do very well among focus groups of undecided voters nor in online mentions,” Lima said, referring to surveys published online, in real time, by pollsters.
Bolsonaro said at one point that “the whole system is against me.” At times he appeared rattled and da Silva, known universally by Brazilians as Lula, several times drew attention to the president’s behavior, saying it was unbecoming of his position.
The two had only one prior face-to-face debate, earlier this month, with a similar format that allots candidates a bank of time to use as they see fit, whether addressing voters or asking questions of their opponent.
This debate marked a change from their previous encounter, when da Silva focused on the president’s widely criticized handling of the pandemic that killed more than 680,000 Brazilians and Bolsonaro homed in on corruption investigations that tarnished his opponent and the Workers’ Party. The two candidates raised these issues again Friday, but dwelled less on them.
Da Silva sought to characterize Bolsonaro’s administration as isolated in the world, noting his dearth of state visits and allies abroad. Bolsonaro highlighted his trip to Russia that secured a supply of fertilizer ahead of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, helping Brazilian agribusiness, and he said the Middle East receives him “with open arms.”
In a post-debate interview with TV Globo, Bolsonaro indicated that he will respect results from the vote. Many analysts have expressed concern he has laid the groundwork to challenge results if they are unfavorable, much like former US president Donald Trump.
“There’s no doubt: Whoever has more votes takes it,” Bolsonaro said. “That is what a democracy is.”