Lula avoids TV debate

For the third time during the current presidential campaign, president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva did not show up for a TV debate with his main opponents in the general election scheduled for Sunday. This time, on Thursday, the president missed the debate organised by Globo TV, saying he would not show up due to the 'desperate and virulent attacks' he's been suffering from the other candidates in the race. Without Lula, the three candidates left (Cristovam Buarque, Heloisa Helena and Geraldo Alckmin) chose to criticize the president for his lack of courage in not wanting to discuss and present his ideas openly in a debate broadcast nationally. According to some polls, the president is the favorite for winning a second term, and could get more than 50 percent of the valid votes on Sunday to avoid a second voting round with the second-placed candidate - Geraldo Alckmin, according to the polls.