The campaigns of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro put food prices at the center of Brazil's free electoral broadcasts on Tuesday (22), two weeks before the first round of the presidential election. According to the news outlet g1, the programs aired direct attacks between the two candidates and opposite versions of the cost of living.
Attacks on the air
Flávio Bolsonaro opened the electoral airtime, which rotates between the candidates on TV and radio. In his program, the senator said Lula tries to "confuse" voters with information he called false and said he will present proposals instead of answering attacks. The program also laid out public safety pledges: five maximum-security federal prisons, cell phone blocking inside prisons, a fourfold sentence for cell phone robbery and a lower age of criminal responsibility.
"From my side, you have never seen dirty play and you never will. Now, do you know why Lula, instead of saying what he did, keeps talking badly about me? The word is shame. Lula talks badly about me because he does not want to face the shame of Brazil having today the record number of indebted Brazilians in its entire history... unable to fill the shopping cart at the supermarket. Because his government is a shame", Flávio Bolsonaro said.
Lula's program focused on economic and social measures: ending the 6-by-1 shift system, expanding the Pé-de-Meia student stipend program, creating a national cancer care network and exempting staple foods from taxes. The president tied his opponent to the government of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, and the program closed with the slogan "Flávio talks. Lula delivers".
"During the Bolsonaro government, food prices exploded and I will show you how this affected and still affects your life. Rice and beans rose more than 45% and hunger came back. Unemployment grew... Lula began the work of bringing back people's purchasing power. But you still feel it in your pocket because rebuilding takes time", Lula said in the broadcast.
Polls and an electoral court fight
The clash comes as the race tightens. A Quaest poll released on Monday (21) gives Lula 37% of voter intentions against 33% for Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round. In a possible runoff, the two are in a technical tie, with 42% for the senator and 41% for the president. According to g1, Lula's team is trying to shift attention away from a crisis involving the Supreme Federal Tribunal that dominated the news last week, while the senator's campaign aims to cut the gap in the Northeast region and grow in the Southeast.
The fight over food prices has also reached the courts. According to Brasil de Fato, Lula's coalition, Brasil Pronto pra Mais, filed a complaint on Monday (21) with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Brazil's top electoral court, against a video posted on the senator's social media asking "How much is picanha in your city?". The coalition says the video takes a Lula quote out of context, points to 105,000 reais in paid boosting between September 13 and 18, in four versions with an estimated reach of more than one million accounts, and asks for the video's removal and a 240,000-real fine. The case's rapporteur is Justice André Mendonça.
The broadcasts continue in rotation until the eve of the first round, scheduled for October 4. As of publication, Mendonça had not ruled on the removal request.