Brazils President Luiz In cio Lual da Silva was strongly criticized by his opponents for not showing up at the live debate broadcasted on network TV Globo on Thursday night, local media said on Friday.

President Lula officially declined TV Globos invitation for attending the debate three hours before it took place, which did not prevent the three other candidates from targeting the incumbent candidate in the TV show.

Former Sao Paulos Governor Geraldo Alckmin, from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, Senator Heloisa Helena, from Socialism and Freedom Party, and Senator Cristovam Buarque, from the Democratic Labor Party, gathered forces to try to reduce the Presidents lead in the polls and stop his re-election in the first round, on Sunday Oct. 1.

According to the rules of the debate, the participants could ask questions to the absent candidate, which were used to attack Lula and his government. Alckmin, who is ranking second in the polls and, therefore, is the most likely candidate to face the President in an eventual second round, said that Lula demonstrated to be authoritarian for not participating in the debate.

Every time a question was addressed to Lula, TV cameras focused on his empty seat.

In his communication to the Brazilian TV network, President Lula stated that other candidates would hold unmerciful attacks against him due to the imminence of his re-election.

In Brazil, candidates leading polls usually do not attend debates. That was the case of Lula's predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who refused to debate with his main opponent, Lula, in the 1994 and 1998 elections.

Source: Xinhua