Band debate between Lula and Flávio will have a free 30-minute confrontation; see rules

Lula (PT) and Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) will have 30 minutes of direct confrontation in the first block of the Band debate, scheduled for Sunday (18), in São Paulo. The broadcaster’s management and party representatives defined the rules.

It will be the first presidential debate with the presence of both. The program will have three blocks, and mediation will be carried out by anchors Eduardo Oinegue and Adriana Araújo, also responsible for the broadcaster's questions.

In the first block, the anchors will ask each candidate a question. Afterwards, Lula and Flávio will be free in the studio to debate for 30 minutes.

The second block begins again with a question from the anchors for each candidate. Then, one candidate asks the other directly. The third maintains the same rule, with questions from the anchors and direct confrontation, and ends with each person's final considerations.

A draw defined the order of answers and the position of the candidates. Flávio will be on the left, and Lula, on the right.

The broadcast starts at 8pm, and the debate should last around two hours. Grupo Bandeirantes' TV, radio and digital channels, including TV Band, BandNews TV and BandNews FM and Bandeirantes radio stations, will show the meeting.

A pool that includes TV Gazeta, TV Cultura, Jovem Pan and the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo will also be shown. The coverage will have real-time analyzes carried out in the broadcaster's digital room, in partnership with Google.

The presence of the two candidates is confirmed. Flávio announced his participation on Wednesday (14), in a video published on social media, one day after stating that he would not attend the meeting. Lula's campaign had already confirmed the president's presence.

In the video, Flávio said that the previous statement had been a "trap" for the president to confirm his presence. He stated that he intends to confront the PT member live and challenge Lula's statements during the campaign.

Lula and Flávio did not participate in any debate in the first round. The senator stated that the absence of the PT member made a direct confrontation unfeasible. The president said that meetings with several opponents could result in attacks from different candidates.

The two compete in the second round after Flávio finished the first stage of the election with 47% of the votes, compared to 45% for Lula.

The last debate of the second round is scheduled for Friday (23), on TV Globo. On Tuesday (13), during an event with MDB state directorates, Flávio said that his technical team was still evaluating participation. Until Wednesday (14), the senator's campaign had not signed the document with the rules and dynamics of this meeting.