By Fernando Cardoso
SAO PAULO, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Brazilian presidential candidates will on Thursday have one of their final opportunities to reach voters ahead of Sunday’s election as TV Globo, the country’s largest free-to-air broadcaster, hosts its traditional end-of-campaign debate.
The event, however, will take place without President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has skipped all debates this year as he seeks an unprecedented fourth term.
The leftist president, who has led every major poll for Sunday’s first-round vote, has avoided sharing the stage with a field dominated by right-wing candidates who could concentrate their attacks on him as he sets his sights on a likely runoff against Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, his main challenger.
“I don’t go to debates to listen to nonsense. If the debate isn’t helpful to the public, why should I go just to respond to trash talk?” Lula said in July.
Once a hallmark of Brazilian democracy following the end of the country’s 21-year military dictatorship in 1985, televised presidential debates have lost relevance as leading candidates have increasingly chosen to stay away.
Lula, who is running for president for the seventh time, also declined to participate in the last debate before the first round of his 2006 reelection campaign, a decision that drew widespread criticism at the time.
Rivals have accused Lula of dodging scrutiny over his administration. His absence has also kept Flavio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, away from debates.
“My only opponent in this campaign is Lula. He’s the one I want to debate,” the lawmaker said earlier this week.
Two debates on other networks were canceled after both declined to attend.
This time, however, Flavio Bolsonaro has confirmed he will participate in Thursday’s debate, where he is likely to appeal to undecided voters, promote his platform and criticize the president.
Lula instead plans to appear on a podcast at the same time.
Three other right-of-center candidates — author-psychiatrist Augusto Cury, former Goias Governor Ronaldo Caiado, and former Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema — are also expected to take part in the debate.
A Quaest survey this week showed Lula with 39% support for the first round and Bolsonaro with 34%, followed a long way behind by Caiado (4%), Cury (4%), Renan Santos (3%) and Zema (1%). Lula and Bolsonaro were seen tied at 42% each in a simulated runoff.
“I wanted Lula to go to the debate,” Caiado wrote on social media. “I wanted to look him in the eye and debate two things that worry Brazilians: security and corruption.”
(Reporting by Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Gabriel Araujo and Rosalba O’Brien)
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