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Escenario televisivo de debate presidencial con dos atriles vacíos y pantallas en verde y amarillo.
Escenario de un debate televisado en Brasil, con dos atriles frente al público. · Imagen generada EPM

Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro face off in key debate one week before runoff

Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro will hold their first televised debate this Sunday, one week before the runoff.

--- The context --- Brazil arrives at the last week before the runoff with the race open. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seeks a fourth non-consecutive term for the Workers' Party, while Senator Flávio Bolsonaro aspires to his first term as head of state for the Liberal Party. Their televised face-off this Sunday will be the first between them before the deciding vote scheduled in one week, after Lula avoided debating his rival before the first round. The president, who is almost 81 years old, also faces the challenge of reversing a result that left him second in the first round. The weight of the encounter lies with undecided voters: every event, every mobilization and every proposal on security, work and the economy seeks to move a minimal difference. --- The facts --- In the first round on October 4, Flávio Bolsonaro obtained 47% of the vote, compared with 45% for Lula. Polls had anticipated an advantage for the president, but the result favored his rival. The debate will be at night in television studios in São Paulo. Beforehand, Flávio Bolsonaro will lead an event on Paulista Avenue to reinforce the public presence of his candidacy. According to Datafolha and Quaest, the senator has 51% of voting intention, against 49% for Lula. In Rio de Janeiro, musician Caetano Veloso called for an act for democracy on Copacabana beach, with dozens of artists, students and social movements, within left-wing mobilizations against the possibility of a new far-right government. The mobilizations carry slogans against a new far-right government and contrast with the lower mobilization that sector showed before the first round. --- The positions --- Flávio Bolsonaro, aged 45, is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who governed between 2019 and 2022 and received a 27-year prison sentence for coup plotting. The senator promised to free him if he reaches the Presidency, although he stated that reserving a post for him in an eventual government is not on his radar. On security, the main concern of Brazilians, he proposed a tougher line than the one applied in El Salvador against gangs and argued in reported speech that that model seems insufficient to him. He also argued in reported speech that those who consider him radical on public security have not seen anything yet. The legislator assured that Brazil will be one of the seven powers of the world if he is elected. On Friday he accused Lula of manipulating the electorate with the reduction of the working week and free public transport on weekends. Lula reinforced announcements for popular sectors: a debt pardon for micro-entrepreneurs, university scholarships and the elimination of fuel taxes. At a rally in Porto Alegre, a 60-year-old supporter questioned in reported speech the legitimacy of the Workers' Party to govern and spoke of lies, theft and scandals. --- What remains unknown --- The effect of the debate on undecided voters is not yet known, nor whether the mobilizations will change voting intention. The outcome is also unclear for the complaint by Lula's campaign over interference on digital platforms and for the request to investigate whether the rival campaign received economic benefits from the United States company identified. --- Unanswered questions --- Will Lula recover in the debate the ground lost in the first round? Will Flávio Bolsonaro sustain his advantage of 51% against 49% with one week left to vote? Will security weigh more than measures on rest, debts and transport? Will the complaint over restricted content on networks be clarified before the runoff? --- EPM analysis --- Lula acknowledged that his campaign for the first round was the most disorganized of all those in which he has participated, changed course and reinforced his activity on networks with young influencers elected as deputies. On Wednesday Congress approved an amendment that guarantees two paid rest days per week instead of one, a banner of his that will reach millions of workers. Flávio Bolsonaro had questioned that initiative and finally voted in favor, a change that Lula attributed in reported speech to electoral opportunism. Lula accused Meta of electoral interference after his content was restricted. His campaign asked on Saturday for an investigation and sent the complaint to the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression. The company denied taking sides, acknowledged failures such as the mistaken deactivation of Lula advertisements and defined them as technical incidents. A government source described the climate among presidential allies as one of contained hope before a difficult battle. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the debate concentrates in a single night the dispute for the undecided voters who will decide the runoff, because the difference of 51% against 49% leaves both candidates with no margin for errors and forces Lula to demonstrate a capacity to react after an adverse first round, while Flávio Bolsonaro must sustain his advantage without the weight of his father's sentence or his toughest promises on security costing him support among moderate voters who are watching closely every gesture of this decisive week in Brazil and in São Paulo.
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