Brazil's last presidential debate of 2026 ended the way it began: with both candidates talking more about each other's past than about what they intend to do from 1 January. On Friday night (23), on TV Globo, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) spent nearly two and a half hours on set, across four blocks, with journalist César Tralli moderating. It was their second and final encounter of the runoff — the first was on TV Bandeirantes on 18 October. Brazilians vote on Sunday (25).
The format tried to hold down the temperature. In the first three blocks each round ran three minutes on a set theme — the first organised by region of the country — under a rule nicknamed "anti-mockery": whoever did not hold the floor could not move around the stage. The fourth block was free, with eight minutes per candidate and no cap on interruptions. That, according to accounts by CNN Brasil and Metrópoles, is where the corruption accusations took up the most room.
The "nine fingers" episode
The most quoted moment of the night came from a line by Flávio about the government's social programmes: the president, the senator said, "gives with one hand and takes away with the nine fingers" — a reference to Lula's left hand, which lost a finger in a workplace accident in his youth.
In the following block, Lula used his right of reply to demand a retraction. "He called me nine fingers; if anyone on this podium knows what work is, it is me," he said, before adding: "I will not allow a militiaman to call me nine fingers." Flávio backed down and apologised — "If I offended you, I apologise, I did not mean to offend you" — and in turn was granted a right of reply after being called a militiaman, time he used to criticise what he called his opponent's "outdated" proposals.
Corruption, both ways
In the free block, Flávio accused Lula of accepting from Daniel Vorcaro, the owner of Banco Master, "a Macallan whisky worth half a million reais". Lula denied it and threw the banker's name back at him: "You and Vorcaro seem like one and the same." He then offered a challenge: "I make another challenge, you and I, tomorrow, open my accounts and yours so the courts can investigate."
The president questioned the source of the money for a R$5.9 million house belonging to the senator, who said he had earned it as a lawyer. Flávio, in turn, demanded that spending on the Presidency's corporate credit card be made public, and countered with questions about the assets of Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha, which Lula said had already been answered.
Two governments compared
On the policy side, the fight was about numbers. Lula said the previous government spent more than his — "they spent almost 30% more than we did", he said, telling voters to check the data — and cited R$1.7 trillion in investment. Flávio described a "cemetery" of stalled public works, called the Bolsa Família cash-transfer programme "bolsa-farelo" ("crumb grant") and apologised when Lula demanded it, and proposed freezing household and business debts. He also defended the Banco Central (Central Bank) autonomy law passed under his father's government, which Lula criticised.
One reversal is worth noting. In the government plans filed with the electoral authorities, summarised by Agência Brasil on Friday morning, the senator proposes resuming privatisations and Lula proposes strengthening state-owned companies. In the debate, Flávio said he would not carry out privatisations — and Lula accused him of preparing a "tesouraço", a massive sell-off.
Security and the Ana Clara case
Public security produced the sharpest exchange. Flávio promised tougher sentences, chemical castration for rapists, the retaking of territory held by criminal groups, and the classification of the PCC and Comando Vermelho gangs as terrorist organisations: "I will treat a criminal like a criminal." Lula defended strengthening the police and going after militias and drug trafficking, and accused his opponent of ties to militia members: "You did not manage to end them, you joined them." He closed with the line that summed up his strategy for the night: "Either we keep democracy working, or we will have a militiaman inside the Palácio do Planalto."
Lula's campaign brought to the audience the mother of Ana Clara, a five-year-old girl killed by a rifle shot. Pressed on the case, Flávio said he sympathised with the mother and was working to identify who fired.
What the polls say
The electoral arithmetic explains the ferocity. In the first round Flávio took 47.03% of valid votes, more than 56 million, against 45.16% for Lula, 53.8 million. The Datafolha poll of 22 October put the senator at 47% and the president at 46% — a statistical tie within the two-point margin of error — which works out to 50% each in valid votes. The Veritá institute reported 51.3% for Flávio and 48.7% for Lula among valid votes.
The final round of polling lands on Saturday: AtlasIntel at around 6 p.m. and Datafolha at 6:45 p.m., with 4,050 interviews carried out on Friday and Saturday. Quaest, Colectta, Futura/Apex, Gerp, Instituto Franca, MDA, Nexus/FSB/BTG, Palver and Simplex are also due to publish.
With information from CNN Brasil, Metrópoles, O Tempo, Agência Brasil and Brasil de Fato.
