Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will ask the country's electoral court on Tuesday to annul the candidacy of his runoff rival, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, according to Clarin.com. A source on the president's campaign team told the AFP news agency that the request rests on allegations that Meta, the U.S. company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, interfered in the contest. The second round of voting is scheduled for Sunday.
The filing is expected at the Tribunal Superior Electoral (TSE), Brazil's top electoral court, and centers on what the campaign describes as algorithmic manipulation by Meta. Clarin.com reports that the complaint includes the demand to strip Bolsonaro of his place on the ballot.
Why it matters
The move lands five days before Brazilians return to the polls, and it puts the conduct of the world's largest social media company at the center of a presidential race. Lula's side argues that Meta's platforms have favored the conservative senator; Meta rejects that characterization, calling the accusations false.
The dispute also carries immediate legal weight. The TSE had given Meta 24 hours to demonstrate that it applies equal treatment to both campaigns, a deadline that expired Tuesday. Clarin.com, citing the court document obtained by AFP, reports that failure to comply carries a daily fine of one million reais, roughly 200,000 dollars.
Meta says it has complied, while admitting errors
Meta said Tuesday that it had finished putting in place the measures ordered by the electoral court to ensure parity between the two campaigns, according to Clarin.com. "We completed the implementation of the measures to comply with the decision of the Tribunal Superior Electoral," the company said in a statement quoted by the outlet.
The company has denied taking sides in the election. It has, however, acknowledged faults, including the deactivation of advertising from Lula's campaign, which it attributed to technical problems that were not limited to Brazil. Clarin.com reports that a TSE judge had ordered the company last Thursday to apply identical rules to both candidates.
Poll shows Bolsonaro ahead as both camps fight for poor voters
A survey by Real Time Big Data released Tuesday put Flávio Bolsonaro at 52 percent of valid votes against 48 percent for Lula, Clarin.com reports. Valid votes exclude blank and spoiled ballots, the method Brazil's electoral authority uses when tallying results.
Counting all votes, the senator from the Liberal Party stands at 48 percent and the president, of the Workers' Party, at 45 percent, according to the same poll. Blank and spoiled ballots accounted for 5 percent, and 2 percent of respondents said they did not know or would not answer. Lula was rejected by 35 percent of those surveyed and Flávio Bolsonaro by 33 percent, while 28 percent said they would vote for neither.
Clarin.com also reports that the long-running Bolsa Família cash transfer program for low-income households has become a central battleground in the final stretch, as both candidates compete for the votes of poorer Brazilians.
A debate exchange, a transparency challenge and an influencer push
The campaign's closing days have been dominated by a series of exchanges between the candidates. After Sunday's debate, Lula filed a document with the TSE stating that he authorizes the release of his confidential banking, tax and electronic records from the past eight years, as well as those of his family members, provided Flávio Bolsonaro does the same. Clarin.com reports that Lula issued the challenge during the debate and repeated it in a Monday interview in Porto Alegre, where he was campaigning.
Clarin.com also reports, citing the magazine Revista Noticias, that a message from Bolsonaro to Lula calling him "corrupt" backfired on the sender.
On the ground, Flávio Bolsonaro is mobilizing right-wing influencers for a final push. Clarin.com reports that the candidate organized a private event in the Alphaville district of Barueri, in greater São Paulo, where he planned to record short videos for supporters to distribute online. The outlet reports that the schedule was arranged by businessman Pablo Marçal, who has close ties to executives at Elytron, a U.S. firm specializing in online political advertising.
The effort is meant to counter Lula's own digital operation, led by federal deputy André Janones, described by Clarin.com as an internet star. His WhatsApp channel, called "Ejército de Lula," has been the subject of a legal dispute between the two parties and has driven recent supporter activity online, from balcony protests with pots and pans to photographs in the national team jersey posted to social media.
A regional ranking puts Lula eighth
Separately, a CB Global Data poll cited by Clarin.com places Lula's positive image at 45.3 percent and his negative image at 50.5 percent at home, ranking him eighth among Latin American leaders by approval. Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum tops that list at 69.3 percent positive. El Salvador's Nayib Bukele follows at 68.3 percent favorability with 27.9 percent rejection, and the Dominican Republic's Luis Abinader is third at 51.9 percent positive and 42.5 percent negative. Argentina's Javier Milei sits 14th of 18, with 36.1 percent approval and 59 percent rejection, according to the same survey.
What to watch
The TSE's response to the annulment request, and whether Meta faces the daily fine, will shape the final days of a race that polls suggest is close heading into Sunday's vote.
