Lula challenges Bolsonaro to release personal records before election

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has challenged right-wing candidate Senator Flavio Bolsonaro to release his personal records in the run-up to the second round of the country’s presidential election, in which corruption has emerged as a key issue.

Lula said on Tuesday that he would share his bank, tax and telephone records, along with those of his family, if Bolsonaro would agree to do the same.

“I’m willing to let Brazilians see who the thieves and corrupt people in this country really are. I want to see whether he [Bolsonaro] has the courage to disclose his bank and phone records,” the left-wing president said during a campaign event in Maranhao state.

The call from Lula comes as both campaigns try to navigate the fallout of an explosive corruption scandal involving disgraced banker Daniel Vorcaro that has implicated influential individuals and institutions across Brazil.

While Bolsonaro is the only major presidential candidate with direct links to Vorcaro, the scandal has also hit the country’s Supreme Federal Court, a major target of right-wing ire for sentencing former President Jair Bolsonaro, Flavio’s father, to 27 years in prison for his role in a coup plot after Lula defeated him in 2022.

Concerns about corruption have become a potent issue that the right has sought to capitalise on, a dynamic that Lula has tried to turn to his advantage in the closing weeks of the race.

Worries about US interference have also loomed over the race following a series of interventions by the Trump administration in Brazilian domestic matters, and reports that the US social media giant Meta had taken steps to restrict Lula’s online campaign prompted a legal complaint.

The company told Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday that it has taken steps to ensure equal treatment for both candidates.

Meta added that any automated restrictions on advertising accounts from either campaign would be reviewed within two hours through the second round of voting on Sunday.

The news service AFP reported that Lula would seek to disqualify Bolsonaro’s campaign on the grounds that “algorithmic manipulation” in his favour by Meta, citing an anonymous source.