World
BRASIL Globo to host final presidential debate before Brazil’s first round
The event will take place Thursday night with four confirmed candidates and Lula absent. O Globo reported that Romeu Zema was allowed to join after a ruling by Nunes Marques.
TV Globo will stage the final debate among Brazil’s presidential candidates before the first round of the 2026 election, scheduled for Sunday the 4th.
According to O Globo, Flávio Bolsonaro, Augusto Cury, Ronaldo Caiado and Romeu Zema are confirmed for the event. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking re-election for the PT, decided not to take part.
The debate will be moderated by journalist César Tralli and broadcast live from Globo’s studios in Rio de Janeiro, with simultaneous coverage on g1 and GloboNews. It is scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m., after Jornal Nacional.
O Globo reported that the format includes four question-and-answer segments plus closing remarks. Two segments will focus on set topics and two will be open-topic.
The broadcaster said the candidates will debate around a map of Brazil placed at the center of the set. They will also be able to choose from predefined topics displayed on a screen when asking questions. The candidate asking a question will have two minutes to split between the question and rebuttal, while the candidate answering will have three minutes to divide between the response and rejoinder.
O Globo also said the original invitation list covered candidates from parties with at least five members in Congress, under a TSE rule published in July. That list included Lula, Flávio Bolsonaro, Augusto Cury and Ronaldo Caiado. Zema’s participation was enabled after a decision on Tuesday the 29th by Nunes Marques, which changed the earlier interpretation and allowed the Novo candidate to take part.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
