MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula says “fake news” reigns supreme in Brazil's municipal elections

Some candidacies “have no commitment other than to provoke, to tell lies,” Lula insisted

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva insisted this weekend that “fake news” had been widely used as a campaign tool ahead of Sunday's municipal elections nationwide. “We are seeing a great amount of 'fake news', a great number of lies, of provocations,” Lula stressed. “Now there are candidacies that have no commitment other than to provoke, to tell lies,” he also pointed out when casting his vote in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in Greater Sao Paulo, where he developed his trade union and political career since the 1970s.

The president also underlined that it was up to Congress to pass a bill to regulate false news on social media. He made these remarks with Sao Paulo mayoral hopeful Guilherme Boulos in mind. The Socialism and Freedom Party candidate had been a victim of false signals disseminated through the social network Instagram by the politician Pablo Marçal, of the Brazilian Labor Renovation Party, by falsifying a medical document to attack his opponent. Nevertheless, these tactics were not enough for Marçal to advance to the runoff. But the case did earn him a court ban on his Instagram account.

Lula also warned that these elections were the time to observe the behavior of each candidate and their proposals, so people did not vote in an uninformed way.

Sunday's polls were also regarded as a prelude to the 2026 presidential elections. The electoral campaigns included large doses of foul play such as the case of the TV debate in which there were even accusations of sexual assault of a minor by a candidate.

See also: Brazil's municipal elections: Rio Mayor reelected Sunday; others will have to wait for runoff