RIO DE JANEIRO.- The right-wing senator Flavio Bolsonaromain rival of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the Brazilian elections next Sunday, canceled at the last minute his participation this Thursday in a television debate. In addition, he denounced censorship by the electoral body.
“I have just made the decision not to go to the Globo debate due to the censorship imposed on the event by the Superior Electoral Court,” Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on the social network X, two hours before the debate.
The leftist Lula, 80 years old and running for elections for the fourth time, had declined the invitation to the traditional debate.
Shortly before, the electoral court ruled that Globe TV could not leave, as planned, an empty chair on the set to represent Lula’s absence, according to a resolution to which the AFP.
This decision also prohibits participants from using their speaking time to go to the empty chair and question an absent Lula.
Flávio Bolsonaro, 45 years old and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, would debate with three other candidates with no chance of winning in Sunday’s elections.
Lula maintains a slight advantage in the polls in the first round, but he and Bolsonaro are practically tied in an eventual runoff scheduled for October 25.
According to a Datafolha poll, published on Thursday night, the leftist leads with 48% of the votes, compared to 45% for his rival in a second round.
“Fake News”
The Brazilian justice ordered the removal of false publications about the country’s patron Virgin from social networks, a controversy during the final stretch of the electoral campaign. This is the Virgen Nossa Senhora Aparecida, venerated in one of the countries with the most Christians in the world.
The controversy broke out a week ago, when posts went viral on social media claiming that, if he came to power, Flávio Bolsonaro would withdraw the title of patron saint of Brazil.
The versions were based on a bill presented in 2007 by a conservative deputy, which sought to limit patronage to Catholics. The project was shelved in 2008. The right-wing candidate denied the accusations and blamed the government for spreading “fake news.”
Flávio Bolsonaro boasts of maintaining a good relationship with the American president, Donald Trump, after meeting with him privately at the White House this year. Trump is an ally of former President Bolsonaro.
The senator praises Nayib Bukele’s security policies in El Salvador, criticized by human rights defenders, and offers to build “many prisons.”
Furthermore, he assures that if he becomes president of Brazil, he will not run for re-election.
