Good morning! This week, we break down the first presidential debate of the Brazilian 2022 presidential election, which opposed Lula and Jair Bolsonaro for the first time. And how police officers feel about democracy.
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A lackluster debate to kick off 2022
Those who tuned into the first presidential debate of the Brazilian 2022 elections hoping for a piece of deeper knowledge about concrete proposals from candidates were left wanting. Detailed proposals were scarce, and the two frontrunners — Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro — performed poorly.
State of play. For nearly three hours, six presidential hopefuls answered questions from journalists and one another. The system used gave the same amount of screentime to all competitors, with four of the candidates in attendance combining for less than 10 percent of voting intentions in recent polls.
- Some of the candidates literally started their remarks by presenting themselves to the audience.
- The structure of the debate created lots of “idle” space, with most airtime going to candidates with no chance of...