MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil heads to the polls without a single debate between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro

Globo said in a statement that “successive court decisions taken moments before the debate create legal uncertainty and represent undue interference in the media's freedom to organise debates”

Brazilian broadcaster Globo on Thursday cancelled, an hour before it was due to start, the last presidential debate scheduled before Sunday's first round, following a series of court rulings and the absence of both President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. The two leading candidates thus head to the polls without having faced each other in a single televised debate during the entire campaign.

Lula had announced on Wednesday that he would not attend and would instead give an interview on the Flow podcast at the same time. At the request of his campaign, which cited a “potential imbalance”, Superior Electoral Court judge Estela Aranha barred the broadcaster from showing the president's empty lectern and from allowing other candidates to direct questions to it, two points included in the rules agreed with the contenders. The judge noted that attendance at debates is “optional”.

Following that ruling, Bolsonaro said he would not attend either. “I have just decided not to go to the Globo debate because of the censorship imposed on the event by the TSE. The press must be free and elections must be clean,” said the Liberal Party candidate. Supreme Federal Court justice Gilmar Mendes then ordered the inclusion of Renan Santos of the Missão party, who did not meet the requirement of having at least five members of Congress.

Globo said in a statement that “successive court decisions taken moments before the debate create legal uncertainty and represent undue interference in the media's freedom to organise debates”.

In the interview, Lula called the format “fruitless”, said it allowed “little jokes” from candidates with less support and proposed that debates be organised according to each candidate's electoral weight. “I like you better than Globo,” he told the host.

Thursday was also the last day of electoral advertising. Lula, who turns 81 on October 27, said: “This is my last election,” and pledged to shorten the working week to eliminate Saturday work. Bolsonaro called for leaving behind “the old system” and avoided direct attacks on the president. Polls show them in a statistical tie in a possible runoff.