RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro faced each other on Friday night in their final televised debate before Sunday's presidential runoff, a calmer but still sharp exchange hosted by TV Globo in Rio de Janeiro that lasted more than two hours, AFP reported.

Source: AFP via The Hindu, Oct 24, 2026

Unlike their first debate five days earlier, which AFP said was loaded with insults and almost empty of policy proposals, the two candidates questioned each other this time on Brazil's economy, infrastructure and regional development, as well as prices, public security and corruption claims.

Source: AFP via The Hindu, Oct 24, 2026

The sharpest exchange came when Flavio Bolsonaro mocked the finger Lula lost in a workplace accident as a young metalworker, saying: "It's no use, Mr. Lula, giving with one hand and taking away with your nine fingers." Lula replied: "I will not allow a militiaman to call me 'nine fingers'," referring to allegations that his rival has ties to paramilitary groups in Rio de Janeiro. Bolsonaro then apologised, while asking Lula to apologise to Brazilians who suffer from insecurity.

Source: AFP via The Hindu, Oct 24, 2026

Lula, 80, repeatedly told viewers to "Google" his rival's claims, prompting Bolsonaro, 45, to shoot back: "Who governs Brazil, you or Google?" Lula also attacked Bolsonaro's plan to take a "chainsaw" to public spending in the style of Argentina's President Javier Milei, while Bolsonaro accused the president of leaving behind a "broken country" and asked: "Why are things so expensive?"

Source: AFP via The Hindu; Harava News, Oct 24, 2026

The debate closed a campaign in which the race has narrowed to a dead heat. A Datafolha survey published on Thursday put the two candidates level at 50 per cent each of valid votes, within its two-point margin of error, after Bolsonaro had led by four points two weeks earlier. A Vox Brasil survey released on October 23 put Lula narrowly ahead at 50.6 per cent to 49.4 per cent, also within its reported margin of error of 2.15 points, from 2,100 voters interviewed between October 20 and 22.

Source: Datafolha and Vox Brasil polls via Votendi, Oct 23, 2026

Flavio Bolsonaro finished first in the October 4 first round with about 47 per cent of valid votes, ahead of Lula's just over 45 per cent, but neither cleared the majority needed to win outright. Voting in the runoff is on Sunday, October 25, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Brasilia time, and the winner will serve a four-year term beginning on January 5, 2027.

Source: Aalimi Nation, Oct 23, 2026

Flavio Bolsonaro has promised to tackle crime, create 500,000 more prison places and slash government spending. Lula, a former union leader seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, presents himself as a defender of democracy and is counting heavily on opposition to the Bolsonaro family's return to power; his rival's father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year prison sentence for attempting to overturn his 2022 election defeat.

Source: AFP via The Hindu, Oct 24, 2026

"The debates have once again descended to a fifth-grade level, which is absurd," dentist and Bolsonaro voter Lizie Moreira, 60, told AFP after the debate. The outcome will decide whether Latin America's largest country joins a regional shift to the right or remains a left-wing stronghold, AFP said.

Source: AFP via The Hindu, Oct 24, 2026