Nunes and Boulos are targets in debate Folha/UOL – 09/30/2024 – Power

Ricardo Nunes (MDB) and Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), ahead of the Datafolha survey of voting intentions for São Paulo City Hall, were targets of rivals Pablo Marçal (PRTB) and Tabata Amaral (PSB) during the debate Sheet/UOL, this Monday (30), marked by discussions about corruption, religion and women. Proposals remained in the background, but were also discussed.

In a milder atmosphere than in previous debates, which were marked by a chair from José Luiz Datena (PSDB) on Marçal and by a punch given by an advisor of the PRTB candidate to Nunes’ marketer, the candidates had harsh verbal confrontations, but without physical threats.

Boulos reacted to an insinuation made by Marçal, who mentioned a stint at the Hospital do Servidor Público and resumed the accusation without proof that his rival was a cocaine user. The PSOL candidate revealed that he was hospitalized for chronic depression when he was 19 years old.

“I dealt with it, I overcame depression and moved on, which is what I wish for everyone who faces depression”, he stated, saying that the influencer works with “mud, lies” and recalled a report from Sheet which showed that he used the case of a namesake of Boulos to support the claim that the candidate had been arrested for drug possession. “Marçal’s decline has no limit.”

Marçal also questioned Boulos directly about the use of cocaine and marijuana. “I never used cocaine. I don’t use drugs. I tried marijuana once, when I was a teenager, it gave me a bad headache, and never again”, he replied.

The deputy said that the PRTB candidate tried to “force yet another fake news”, which he wanted to leave for the final stretch of the campaign, but “was unmasked live”. “I’m not going to argue with a citizen like that”, he added.

The influencer provoked President Lula’s ally (PT) by calling him “Lulinha peace and love” and saying that the style is just “a marketing figure”. Marçal appealed to voters not to vote for Boulos because he “loves the ideology he defends” and “will show his claws [se eleito]and that’s terrible.”

Another clash was around the vaccine against Covid-19, after Nunes took a stance against the vaccine passport. The re-election candidate reaffirmed that he “doesn’t see any sense” in requiring proof, which was criticized by Tabata, who accused Nunes and Boulos of changing their position due to electoral calculations.

The PSOL candidate branded the mayor a health and climate crisis denier and cited former president Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) support for the emedebista, comparing their behavior and asking what the consequences would have been if the then mayor Bruno Covas ( PSDB) had denied science.

The only woman in the debate, Tabata was fondled by Marçal, with whom she has been feuding since the beginning, but he also attacked her. The influencer said that she is the most intelligent candidate and that, “if she leaves this leftism and this party she is in, she will be invited to be Secretary of Education, because she is brilliant in education.”

At other times, however, he attacked her, saying that she behaves like “the high school aunt” who, despite being intelligent, is not wise because she lacks life experience. The conversation evolved into a discussion about women and women’s suffrage, with Marçal stating that Tabata was seeking support from them.

“She wants to prove to you that she is a woman. Tabata, if a woman voted for a woman, you would win in the first round. Women don’t vote for women, women are intelligent,” he said.

Boulos protested: “I regret Pablo Marçal’s prejudiced speech insinuating that those who vote for women would have less capacity.”

Tabata stated that “the only thing that took off in this election was the rejection” of Marçal. “Do you know that we [mulher] is always being underestimated”, said the deputy, who also complained about being left aside by men in debates.

“The woman in the debate is the adult in the room, the woman is here talking about proposals and clashing with each of the grown men, who can’t answer my questions and can’t address questions to me.”

Later, Marçal returned to the topic after Tabata said he was desperate. “Women are intelligent, that’s why you’re not dedicating votes to Tabata”, he replied.

The candidates also clashed over religion, exposing the dispute for the evangelical vote.

Marçal challenged Nunes, who has attended evangelical churches during the campaign, to demonstrate biblical knowledge. “The Bible has more than 30 thousand verses, he can’t even quote two here,” said the influencer.

Tabata complained about what he classified as the instrumentalization of faith and stated that no one benefits from this. Boulos also said he did not see the point in a discussion about “who is more Christian.”

Nunes and Boulos had a parallel clash regarding corruption accusations against the mayor. The PSOL deputy mentioned the Federal Police’s investigation into the daycare mafia and the Public Ministry’s investigation into emergency works, citing two cases in which acquaintances of the emedebista were chosen by the city hall.

“With me there never was and there will never be any benefit for anyone”, countered Nunes, stating that Boulos would be “just like Marçal, with the title of a liar”.

The mayor stated that he has zero tolerance in relation to deviations and mentioned Boulos’ position in the accusation of a split by federal deputy André Janones (Avante-MG). The deputy, as rapporteur of the case at the Ethics Council, issued an opinion for the parliamentarian’s acquittal.

“I understand that you are upset, but these are things that the population needs to know,” Boulos said, adding that Nunes was an absentee mayor for three years. Regarding the split, Boulos responded that Janones’ party supports Nunes’ re-election.

In a double act, Marçal and Boulos questioned Nunes about domestic violence, using the police report registered against him in 2011 by the mayor’s wife, Regina Carnovale Nunes, to whom he is still married.

The PRTB candidate repeatedly asked the emedebista why Regina registered the BO.

“Pablo Henrique, I’ve been married for 27 years. I’ve never lifted a finger at my wife. What’s true is that the boy who attacked Duda Lima started a fight, tore his shirt to say he was attacked,” replied Nunes, saying that he would not fall into a supposed trap by Marçal to get him out of focus.

Boulos, in turn, said that the mayor would need to explain himself about the attack on his wife, but that he has avoided all debates.

Marçal insisted at different times for Nunes to answer why Marta Suplicy (PT), who was management secretary until the end of last year, is now Boulos’ deputy, in conjunction with Lula.

The PRTB candidate was also targeted by Boulos when the deputy stated that there was a lot of distrust “about the group that hangs out with him”, due to links “with the PCC, drug trafficking, all kinds of things”, and questioned the presence of former allies of the former -governor João Doria (former PSDB) in his campaign.

This was the first debate of the São Paulo campaign this year with the time bank format, in which the candidate himself manages the duration of the speeches within an established limit — 20 minutes, in this case. The model was praised by participants, who highlighted the possibility of interaction.

Each candidate was able to speak in any answer, even if the question had not been addressed to him. To do this, all you had to do was signal with your hand that you would like to do so.