Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro trade jabs and an apology in final debate as Brazil heads to a dead-heat run-off on Sunday

Illustrative photo: a Brazilian flag. Photo: Gustavo Sánchez / Unsplash (Unsplash License). It was not taken at the debate.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro met on Friday night, October 23, in Rio de Janeiro for the last televised debate before Sunday’s presidential run-off, sparring over public spending, crime and the cost of living in a contest polls describe as too close to call. The debate, broadcast by TV Globo and moderated by César Tralli, was calmer than their first meeting on TV Band the previous Sunday, which was marked by insults, but it still produced sharp moments.

A dead heat

A Datafolha poll published on Thursday, October 22, put the two candidates at 50% each, according to Al Jazeera. Two weeks earlier, polls had shown Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party, ahead by four points. In the first round on October 4, Bolsonaro took 47% to Lula’s 45%, a gap of about 2.2 million votes, but neither reached the 50% of valid votes needed to win outright. Primicias described the race as an increasingly tight tie, with Lula closing the gap and Bolsonaro stalling.

Spending, the “chainsaw” and prices

Lula, of the Workers’ Party (PT), challenged Bolsonaro over his plan to take a “chainsaw” to public spending, an approach compared to that of Argentina’s President Javier Milei. Bolsonaro replied that he would have “the same job here” as Milei because, he said, Lula was “leaving the country bankrupt.” He accused the government of letting organized crime grow, pushing families into debt and failing to tackle rising prices, asking Lula when he had last been inside a supermarket.

Lula said his rival “doesn’t know what hunger is” and “doesn’t know Brazil.” On the minimum wage, the president argued it would be only 900 reais without PT policies; Bolsonaro promised to raise it above inflation. On infrastructure, Bolsonaro spoke of a “cemetery of public works,” while Lula said his government had restarted 6,000 stalled projects. The two also clashed over the Amazon, with Lula arguing the green economy can generate more money than logging.

“Nine Fingers” and an apology

The tensest moment came when Bolsonaro called Lula “Nine Fingers,” a derogatory nickname referring to the finger the president lost in an accident as a metalworker. Lula, 80, demanded an apology, and Bolsonaro gave one. Lula, for his part, called his opponent a vigilante, citing allegations of links to paramilitary militias in Rio de Janeiro; Bolsonaro said he would classify those groups as “narcoterrorists.”

Other topics included household debt, artificial intelligence, the environment, social programs, security and relations with the United States. Before the broadcast, an online petition with more than one million signatures asked the network to fact-check false claims live.

What comes next

Both candidates planned rallies in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo before the vote on Sunday, October 25. Flávio Bolsonaro is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The outcome is widely seen as a signal for the political direction of South America. SagaTVec.lat will report the result.

Sources

• Al Jazeera (with AFP and AP): Brazil’s Lula and Bolsonaro debate policy proposals before run-off (Oct 24, 2026)
• Primicias: Bolsonaro and Lula, the last debate before Brazil’s run-off (Oct 23, 2026, in Spanish)
• Primicias: Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro tied in poll three days before the run-off (in Spanish)

Mary del Castillo · International · Virtual editorial byline
Editorial direction: Leonidas Ferraz · October 24, 2026 · AI-assisted writing