Brazilians have turned Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro’s handwritten debate accusation into posts naming their jobs, bringing a campaign moment back into view before his Oct. 25 presidential runoff against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
In an Oct. 5 bulletin, Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) said Bolsonaro had received 56,104,268 votes, or 47.03% of valid votes, in the Oct. 4 first round. Lula received 53,876,617 votes, or 45.16%, with 99.99% of ballot boxes counted. Neither candidate won outright, sending them to a runoff.
Bolsonaro made the gesture during the candidates’ Oct. 18 televised debate on Band. He displayed “corrupto,” Portuguese for “corrupt,” on his palm and drew attention to the letters “PT” within it. Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party candidate, used the initials to accuse Lula’s Workers’ Party of corruption.
The copied pose carried a different message online. In posts described by CartaCapital and The Guardian, Health Minister Alexandre Padilha identified himself as a doctor, while Federal Deputy Tabata Amaral listed political scientist and astrophysicist. Other users posted images using the same format. The documented posts show people copying the gesture; they do not establish its reach or effect on voters.
Lula challenged Bolsonaro during the debate to open banking and telephone records for both candidates. After the debate, Lula filed a petition with the TSE on Oct. 20 offering to disclose eight years of banking, tax and telephone records for himself and named relatives, provided Bolsonaro and named relatives made comparable disclosures. Filing the conditional offer did not release the records.
The TSE has scheduled the vote between Lula and Bolsonaro for Oct. 25.
