Brazil’s final televised presidential debate was cancelled on Thursday after leading candidates Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro declined to take part ahead of Sunday’s first-round election.
TV Globo, which organised the event, said it scrapped the debate after receiving last-minute court rulings that changed rules agreed in advance. The broadcaster said the changes included restrictions on referring to candidates who were absent.
Lula announced that he would not attend. Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, withdrew several hours later.
Debate was due to reach millions of voters
The programme had been intended as the last opportunity before the first round for Brazil’s 158 million voters to watch the presidential candidates face each other on television.
The first round includes 12 candidates in total, with Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro described in the source material as the leading contenders. Both candidates instead conducted online broadcasts at the time the debate had been scheduled.
The cancellation marked the first time in 20 years, according to the source material, that Brazil’s leading candidates had rejected a public confrontation.
Potential runoff remains ahead
Analysts have said Lula and Bolsonaro have followed a strategy of avoiding direct on-stage confrontations before the first round. Recent polls cited in the source material identify the two as the only candidates with a realistic chance of reaching the second round or winning outright, although no polling figures or polling organisations were specified.
If a runoff is required, it is scheduled for 25 October. The two candidates are still expected to face one another during the three weeks before that vote, should the runoff take place.
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