Brazil election: Bolsonaro and Lula call each other 'liars'

Created: 09/30/2022, 14:24

By: Stefan Krieger

Elections will be held in Brazil on Sunday.

The people are called upon to elect the president -- as well as legislators, governors and senators.  

• In Brazil on Sunday (October 2nd) the citizens are called to elect the president

• The incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are up for election

• The information and developments on the election in our news ticker

RIO DE JANEIRO - Ahead of the first round of Brazil's presidential election on Sunday (October 2), challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is well ahead of incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the polls.

In a survey by the Datafolha institute, 48 percent of the votes went to the challenger, while the incumbent only got 34 percent.

With polemical attacks on Lula da Silva, the right-wing head of state denied the TV duel a few days before the presidential election.

The 67-year-old insulted Lula on Thursday (September 29) in front of an audience of millions as a "liar", "ex-prisoner" and "traitor to the fatherland" and made no secret of his personal dislike for the left-wing ex-president.

The presidential elections will take place in Brazil on October 2nd.

© Myke Sena/dpa

Brazil election: Lula clearly ahead of Bolsonaro

Bolsonaro also accused Lula of leading a gang of "thieves" during his tenure and referred to the corruption scandal involving state-owned oil company Petrobras.

Lula spent a total of 18 months in prison over the scandal in 2018 and 2019, but his sentences were overturned by Brazil's Supreme Court on formal grounds.

The incumbent: Jair Bolsonaro.

© Andre Lucas/dpa

"The people will send you home on October 2," replied Lula, who is well ahead of the incumbent in the polls.

He also accused Bolsonaro of being a "liar".

"How can you look in the mirror when you see what happened under your administration?" Lula asked.

He referred to a scandal in the Ministry of Education and the allegations against Bolsonaro's eldest son, who is suspected of embezzling funds.

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The challenger: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, former President of Brazil.

© Andre Penner/dpa

• Who vote?

• According to official figures from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), on October 2, 156,454,011 Brazilians will be eligible to vote, six percent more than in the 2018 election. A good 52 percent of voters are women.

  In Brazil, voting is compulsory for all citizens between the ages of 18 and 70.

  However, the fine for those who do not vote is small and therefore rather symbolic.

  16 and 17-year-olds, over 70-year-olds and illiterates may, but do not have to, vote.

• Who is elected?

• The president, the governors of all 27 states (including the federal district of Brasília), the members of parliament and one third of the senators at the federal level (Congresso) as well as the members of the state parliaments are up for election.

  All but the senators are elected to four-year terms.

  In the presidential and gubernatorial elections, a runoff will take place on October 30 if no candidate receives an absolute majority in the first ballot.

• How is voting done?

• Brazilians vote at electronic ballot boxes.

  Each voter must enter a code that matches the candidate's code: two digits for the president and governors, three for senators, four for members of the federal assembly, and five for members of each state's legislature.

  The electronic voting system, which has been in operation in Brazil since 1996, is regularly criticized by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro as not being forgery-proof, but there is no evidence of this.

  In this way, the incumbent may be preparing to challenge the result if he is not re-elected.

Should Lula receive more than 50 percent of the votes in Sunday's first round of voting, he would have been elected Brazil's head of state in the first round.

If none of the candidates receive this majority, the two best-placed candidates will compete against each other in a runoff on October 30th.

Brazil election: Lula polarized

The left-wing politician Lula ruled Brazil from 2003 to 2010. His controversial arrest knocked him out in the presidential race in 2018, and Bolsonaro came to power.

During the four years of his tenure, the right-wing president polarized like no other head of state before him in Brazil.

(skr/afp)