Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo cancelled Thursday’s final presidential debate ahead of the upcoming election, citing “judicial interference” from both Brazil’s top electoral authority and Supreme Court demanding changes in the debate’s rules.
The South American country is hours away from holding general elections on Sunday, October 4. This year’s presidential election, while featuring 13 different candidates on the ballot, is primarily a race between incumbent socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and conservative Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
TV Globo, described by international outlets as Brazil’s most popular broadcaster, intended to host a final presidential debate on Thursday with the participation of both Lula and Bolsonaro as well as other candidates. President Lula, however, has repeatedly expressed his lack of interest in participating in debates in this election cycle. Lula’s campaign informed the broadcaster on Wednesday that he would not be attending.
Lula instead participated in a podcast interview during which he reportedly affirmed that participating in the TV Globo debate would have been “fruitless.”
“I honestly think these debates are fruitless; they don’t accomplish anything, and nothing comes of them. People start trying to be funny, you know? What’s the joke? What’s the catch? When you’re running for president, it’s a much more serious matter,” Lula said in the podcast, per Poder 360.
The socialist president affirmed that he had been “questioning” the TV Globo-hosted debates “for some time,” as, according to him, “You can’t take someone who has 49 percent [of the vote] and pit them against someone who is just starting out and has one percent.”
GloboNews explained that, in accordance to debate guidelines previously agreed upon by all political parties in Brazil — including Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) — the podium reserved for an absent candidate must be left empty on stage, with a sign that identifies the missing individual. As such, TV Globo planned to place an empty podium with Lula’s name on stage. However, hours before the debate, Brazil’s top electoral authority, the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), ordered TV Globo to abstain from placing an empty podium for Lula.
According to GloboNews, the order was signed by STE Justice Estela Aranha — the same judge who recently ordered the censorship of a video published by conservative lawmaker Nikolas Ferreira regarding recent outrageous comments by Lula.
Moments after the TSE’s orders became public, Senator Bolsonaro published a social media post accusing the TSE of censorship and announcing that he would not participate in the debate in protest of the court’s actions. Instead, the conservative candidate hosted an impromptu two-hour-long live stream on YouTube where he went over his government proposals should he become the next president of Brazil.
Per Metrópoles, Bolsonaro detailed during the stream that he was ready to participate in the debate, but stressed, “no one condones censorship.”
“I will not condone interference by the judiciary in the elections,” Bolsonaro said, accusing the judiciary of causing “legal uncertainty” throughout Brazil with its actions.
Additionally, GloboNews detailed that the broadcaster received a separate “judicial interference” order from the nation’s top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), ordering the broadcaster also to invite outsider right-wing candidate Renan Santos, to whom the broadcaster did not extend an invitation for the debate. The order was signed by STF Justice Gilmar Mendes.
“Globo has a long tradition of organizing electoral debates. Our purpose is to promote the discussion of ideas for Brazil and to offer voters the opportunity to compare policy proposals. Our duty is to promote democracy,” TV Globo’s statement read in part.
“However, the successive court rulings issued just moments before the debate was to take place create legal uncertainty and constitute undue interference with the media’s freedom to organize election debates,” the text continued. “For this reason, Globo has decided to cancel tonight’s debate.”
Several polls have suggested over the past weeks that none of the 13 participating presidential candidates are expected to obtain the required 50 percent majority of the votes to win in the October 4 first round of the 2026 presidential election — suggesting that a October 25 runoff election between Lula and Bolsonaro will be the most likely scenario. However, Lula and Bolsonaro have remained “technically tied” over the past weeks, so that the hypothetical late October runoff is expected to be a very close race.