Bolsonaro and Lula exchange insults in the last presidential debate in Brazil before the elections

(CNN) — In a debate full of attacks and blows, Brazilian presidential candidates Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva exchanged fierce personal insults, with accusations of corruption and lies, in the last presidential debate before the general elections on October 2.

“Don’t lie because it’s shameful for a president of the Republic to lie,” favorite Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told Bolsonaro, in response to accusations of corruption made by the current president. Bolsonaro hit back at Lula, calling him a “liar, former prisoner and traitor.”

Lula later denied any involvement in corruption cases by replying to another candidate: “I was acquitted in 26 trials within Brazil, I was acquitted by the Supreme Court and I was acquitted in two trials at the United Nations.”

Lula, currently leading the latest polls, told President Bolsonaro to “look in the mirror” if he wanted to see corruption, citing accusations against his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, and his former education minister, accused of demanding bribes for influential evangelical churches.

On the issue of the environment, he stated that despite the fact that Brazil is one of the ten richest countries in the world, it is one of the “lowest emitters of CO2 gases”.

Lula also said that the Amazon must be explored economically, but without cutting down trees. “The greatest wealth of the Amazon is recognizing its biodiversity and perhaps extracting something from it for the pharmaceutical industry, the cosmetic industry,” she said.

Bolsonaro did not answer two questions from candidate Soraya Thronicke: if he was vaccinated against covid-19 and if he would attempt a coup if he lost Sunday’s elections.

Bolsonaro is a distant second in the polls ahead of the elections, with 36% according to Datafolha.

According to the Brazilian electoral system, if no candidate manages to obtain more than 50% of the valid votes in the first round, a second round is called in which only the two most voted candidates participate.