The first debate among candidates for Brazil's presidency in the 2026 election took place on Sunday, August 23, with only three of the leading contenders on stage: Augusto Cury (Avante), Renan Santos (Missão) and Ronaldo Caiado (PSD). The event, organized by broadcaster Rede Bandeirantes and the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, ran for about ninety minutes and was described by BBC News Brasil as the emptiest presidential debate since 1989, since the two frontrunners in the polls, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party, PT) and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party, PL), did not attend.
According to the BBC News Brasil Poll Aggregator, the three participants together hold about 10% of first-round voting intentions. Lula leads the race with 40%, followed by Flávio Bolsonaro with 34%, while Caiado sits a distant third with 5%, based on the most recent tally released Tuesday, August 25. During the debate, the three candidates present pushed their platforms and directed criticism at the absent frontrunners.
Romeu Zema (Novo), another invited candidate, also skipped the Band debate. He had confirmed his attendance but pulled out on Saturday, August 22, after learning that Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro would not be there. Instead, Zema opted for a one-on-one interview on Globo's evening newscast Jornal Nacional on Monday, August 24, kicking off a series of individual interviews the network is running with the six candidates who polled highest in an August 14 Quaest survey.
Individual interviews on Globo
The Jornal Nacional interview series continues through the week: after Zema, Ronaldo Caiado appeared on Tuesday, August 25; Renan Santos is scheduled for Wednesday, the 26th; Lula for Thursday, the 27th; Flávio Bolsonaro for Friday, the 28th; and Augusto Cury closes out the round on Saturday, the 29th. In his Globo interview, Caiado defended a broad and unrestricted amnesty for those convicted over the January 8, 2023 attempted coup, including former president Jair Bolsonaro, comparing the measure to the Federal Supreme Court's annulment of Lula's corruption convictions, according to Folha de S.Paulo. The newspaper notes that Lula was not granted an amnesty: the court annulled his convictions in 2021 after finding procedural flaws in the cases tied to the Car Wash (Lava Jato) corruption probe.
Asked about fiscal adjustment, Caiado did not detail how he would reform the pension system, but said that, if elected, he would send a constitutional amendment on his first day in office capping public spending at 50% of gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation. He also renewed his proposal for a joint police force with neighboring countries, dubbed SulPol, modeled on Europe's Europol.
Meanwhile, Augusto Cury kept up his own campaign schedule. According to G1, the Avante candidate visited São Paulo and then Montes Claros, in the state of Minas Gerais, where he discussed agribusiness proposals, called for fiscal responsibility measures to lower interest rates, and pledged to finance 10 million microenterprises. He also proposed changes to the Bolsa Família welfare program so that beneficiaries who get a formal job or open a microenterprise would not immediately lose the benefit, keeping it for a transition period.