Brazilian socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in an apparent gaffe, said in Sunday’s heated presidential debate that Brazil will be “finished” if he is reelected for a fourth term in the upcoming runoff election.
The Brazilian president made the bizarre comment in his closing remarks in Sunday’s debate between himself and conservative Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the front-running candidate in the October 25 presidential runoff election.
“And in this fourth term, people will say: Brazil is finished. And will be a great country, a developed country, a country that will stop being a country that, you know, does small things,” Lula said in his closing remarks before he was interrupted by a debate presenter who told him he ran out of time.
Sunday’s broadcast, hosted by TV Bandeirantes a week before the election, marked the first time that Lula and Bolsonaro faced each other in a debate during the entirety of Brazil’s 2026 presidential election cycle. The incumbent socialist president and leader of the far-left Workers’ Party (PT) had repeatedly rejected participating in debates against Bolsonaro and other presidential candidates in the race — deeming such activities “fruitless.”
Flávio Bolsonaro’s victory in the first round of the Brazilian presidential election, and Brazilian conservatives’ sweeping victories at both chambers of Congress, however, appear to have led to a change of heart in the Brazilian president, who agreed to participate alongside the conservative senator. The debate has been reportedly described as “chaotic” and “tense” by international mainstream media.
Opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, left, raises his hands as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, looks on during a televised presidential debate one week before the presidential runoff election in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, October 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
At one point in the debate, Bolsonaro said Lula was the only person present in the auditorium who has been convicted and imprisoned for corruption and money laundering — right before saluting Sergio Moro, the Governor-elect of Paraná state and the judge who presided over the massive “Operation Car Wash” corruption investigation that led to Lula’s corruption conviction and imprisonment.
Moro, who was present at the debate, shared a clip of Bolsonaro’s remarks on his official social media accounts. The Governor-elect described it as “the moment of truth” in the debate.
The Brazilian newspaper Gazeta do Povo noted that Lula’s comments on Brazil being “finished” were one of several gaffes by the octogenarian Brazilian president during Sunday’s debate. Lula, while discussing with Bolsonaro the subject of public spending and the Brazilian economy, referred to Bolsonaro as a “liar” and a “Carioca thug,” a description that Brazilian outlets pointed out holds discriminatory connotations against residents of Rio de Janeiro, even if Lula was individually referring to Bolsonaro.
Per Poder 360, the conservative senator prefaced his rebuttal to Lula by expressing his solidarity with his fellow Rio residents for being called “thugs.” The backlash against Lula’s remarks has reportedly led to a social media campaign led by Bolsonaro supporters titled “A Carioca is not a thug.”
The Brazilian president also questioned Bolsonaro about the conservative senator’s friendship and proximity with Argentine President Javier Milei and his intention to carry out similar spending cuts in Brazil to the ones implemented by Milei in Argentina. Milei, a firebrand libertarian, has been a longtime fierce critic of Lula and recently referred to him as a “communist dictator” during his latest trip to the United States.
Bolsonaro rebutted by affirming that Lula is a “friend” of Nicaragua’s communist dictator Daniel Ortega and Venezuela’s deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro. The conservative senator also pointed out that Lula sent his Vice President Geraldo Alckmin to Iran in 2024 to represent Brazil during the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Speaking to reporters after the debate, President Lula said the event had been of a “very low” standard due to the repeated allegations of corruption that were espoused by the two candidates. As such, Lula reportedly called upon Bolsonaro to mutually disclose their respective bank and phone records to “find out who is who in this country.”
Brazil’s 2026 presidential runoff election will take place on Sunday, October 25. On that day, over 158 million voters are called to head to the polls and choose between Flávio Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as their next president for a new four-year term starting in January 2027. Per Jovem Pan, the latest round of polls indicate that Bolsonaro maintains his lead against Lula in the upcoming election.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
