Lula hits back at Flávio Bolsonaro: 'I want 100% to vote – including your father!'

In the first televised debate ahead of Brazil's presidential runoff, incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and challenger Flávio Bolsonaro traded sharp barbs over crime on Sunday, October 18. Lula answered an attack over prisoners' votes with a jab at Flávio's father, former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Row over votes from prisons

Flávio Bolsonaro, a senator for the right-wing PL party, accused Lula of letting crime "explode" under his government. He asked the president why most prisoners had voted for him, citing shares of between 60 and 73 percent, depending on the account. Lula, he said, had received votes from rapists, robbers and the "worst kind" of people in the prisons.

Lula, of the Workers' Party (PT), replied: "I want 100 percent to vote. Even your father!" His father could vote for him, he said: "He knows you, he knows I'm better than you." He then addressed the former president directly: "Vote for me, Bolsonaro!"

Flávio Bolsonaro retorted that his father could not even vote for him, because he was the victim of persecution.

Former president barred from voting

Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced in 2025 to 27 years and three months in prison for an attempted coup. He is currently under house arrest on humanitarian grounds. His political rights are suspended, so he is not allowed to vote.

The same applies to all persons with final convictions in Brazil. In prisons, only pretrial detainees and minors held in closed facilities under socio-educational measures may vote. In polling stations in prisons, Lula received 72.6 percent of valid votes in the first round, according to data from the Supreme Electoral Court, and Flávio Bolsonaro 23.3 percent.

Tight race ahead of the runoff

The debate, held in the studio of broadcaster TV Band in São Paulo, lasted about two hours. It was the two candidates' first direct television debate of this campaign; both had avoided debates before the first round.

In the first round on October 4, Flávio Bolsonaro narrowly led with 47.03 percent to Lula's 45.16 percent. Ahead of the debate, polls showed a neck-and-neck race with a slight lead for Flávio Bolsonaro, for example the Datafolha institute with 47 to 45 percent.

Public safety is one of the campaign's most important issues. Flávio Bolsonaro advocates, among other things, prison sentences of up to 80 years for leaders of criminal organizations and a lower age of criminal responsibility. Lula focuses on rehabilitation and has announced a dedicated Ministry of Public Security. The runoff takes place on October 25.