The first presidential debate of Brazil's 2026 election, held on Sunday night (August 23) in São Paulo by Band in partnership with Estadão, Jovem Pan and Gazeta, brought together only three of the six invited candidates and turned the no-shows of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, into its central theme. Taking the stage were Ronaldo Caiado (PSD), Renan Santos (Missão) and Augusto Cury (Avante). Besides Lula and Flávio, Romeu Zema (Novo) also stayed away, and the podiums reserved for the three absentees remained empty on stage, according to G1.
Criticism of the absent candidates ran through the debate from start to finish. Before the program began, Renan held up diapers printed with the names of Lula and Flávio. Answering the first question, on public security, the Missão candidate stepped between the empty podiums and called the pair "cowards". Caiado said the studio was expecting "the two pre-candidates who are also the most rejected in the country". Cury addressed the president directly: "Lula da Silva, you should be here to answer for the chaos in education". In the first round of direct questions between candidates, Renan tried to aim his at Lula and was told by the moderators that the rules required him to pick someone present. He then cited the mensalão and petrolão corruption scandals and asked Cury why part of the electorate still votes for the Workers' Party leader.
Cury himself nearly sat out the event. According to BBC News Brasil, the Avante candidate entered the broadcaster's headquarters but refused to go into the studio after learning that Lula would give an interview to Record in the same time slot as the debate, which he called "the last straw". He eventually relented and took the stage. Outside, members of Unidade Popular (UP) protested the absence of the party's candidate, Samara Martins, from the event.
On policy, Renan defended declaring a state of defense and deploying Guarantee of Law and Order (GLO) operations, in which the armed forces back up police forces, in regions controlled by organized crime, building "super prisons" with between 300,000 and 500,000 places and ordering federal intervention in states that fail to confront criminal gangs. Caiado promised a "credibility shock" for the economy, with spending restraint and inflation brought into a 3% to 4% range. Cury said education is in "chaos", stated that the country has "32 million neurodivergent people" and pointed to students' "digital intoxication" as one of the problems. The three also debated violence against women, Brazil's relations with the United States and ending the 6x1 schedule, under which employees work six days for every day off.
No clear winner
It was the emptiest opening debate of a presidential campaign since 1989, when Lula first ran for president, according to BBC News Brasil. Analysts heard by the broadcaster saw no clear winner, but assessed that Renan made the best use of the stage to introduce himself to voters. The Missão candidate has 4% of voting intentions in the BBC's poll aggregator, will have no advertising time on TV and radio and may be left out of upcoming debates: under electoral law, a guaranteed slot goes only to candidates whose parties have at least five members of Congress, and Missão has just one, Congressman Kim Kataguiri. The next debate is scheduled for September 14.