President Lula (PT) praised, in an event this Saturday (10) in Natal, the measure taken 16 days before the second round that eliminated federal tax on gasoline and renewed the ethanol subsidy.
He also suggested that the cuts promised by opponent Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) will affect the poorest population. Rio Grande do Norte will have a second round between Cadu de Lula (PT) and Allyson (União Brasil).
"We have a war in Iran, against the United States, which has caused extraordinary damage to the people of the entire world, because, because of the Strait of Hormuz, you have an increase in fuel, an increase in gasoline, and here in Brazil I wanted to give you something new. Unlike the entire world, in Brazil today gasoline has decreased, because we are using the money from the oil that Petrobras exports", declared Lula.
"We are subsidizing so that the price of war does not reach the people's bread, does not reach the people's milk," he said.
Lula was accompanied by the candidate for the Government of Rio Grande do Norte Cadu de Lula (PT) and the governors elected in the first round Lucas Ribeiro (PP), from Paraíba; Rafael Fonteles (PT), from Piauí; Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT), from Bahia; and Elmano Freitas (PT), from Ceará.
The president also suggested that the cuts promised by Flávio Bolsonaro will affect the poorest people in the country. "When my opponent says he's going to cut R$250 billion, that there's going to be a treasury, society needs to start asking itself where this cut is going to come from. They always cut from the poor," he stated.
"I don't know anyone from the Brazilian elite who governed this country who had the courage to cut off the rich, the bankers, the businesspeople, the financial system, the farmers and the businesspeople."
Lula attempts an unprecedented turnaround in the presidential elections. Since redemocratization, never has a candidate who finished the first round in second place managed to win in the final stage.
In the first round, he achieved 45.16% of the valid votes, against 47.03% for Flávio.
In his first act in the second round, on Friday (9), Lula went to Ceilândia (DF) alongside the candidate for governor of the Federal District Leandro Grass (PT).
The president did not mention Flávio Bolsonaro by name, but mentioned Banco Master and deaths from Covid-19.
"This country will not be governed by fascism again, it will not be governed again by those murderers of thousands of people during Covid-19. This country will not be governed by Banco Master's partner, by Vorcaro's relatives", he declared.
The first round dispute in Rio Grande do Norte ended closely, with less than a percentage point difference.
The leadership changed hands throughout the count and Allyson (União Brasil) was ahead with 36.94%, compared to 36.16% for Cadu Xavier, who presents himself at the polls as Cadu de Lula (PT).
Cadu seeks to continue the party's eight years of government in the state, with Fátima Bezerra, and maintain the influence of Lula (PT) in one of the PT's strongholds in the Northeast region of the country.
The opponent, Allyson Bezerra, is a former mayor of Mossoró. During the campaign, he tried to dissociate himself from both Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), claiming on the networks that he was a candidate "persecuted by two nationally strong structures that are afraid of losing".
Allyson is being investigated in Operation Mederi, launched by the Federal Police and the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) in January 2026 to investigate embezzlement of public resources and fraud in public tenders in the health sector of city halls in the state, such as Mossoró. He denies participation in a criminal scheme.
In Rio Grande do Norte, the Public Ministry opened an investigation to investigate the case of a child who appeared on the roof of a vehicle with an object similar to a firearm. The Civil Police are also investigating the case, which occurred in the municipality of Parnamirim (RN).
The boy was wearing a green and yellow t-shirt during the celebration of Flávio Bolsonaro's election.
