Skip to main content

Brazilian candidate clobbered with chair in chaotic Sao Paulo mayoral debate

Share

A televised debate among election rivals for mayor of Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, descended into chaos when one struggling candidate whacked another with a chair and was expelled.

During Sunday's debate among six hopefuls, candidate Jose Luiz Datena, a TV presenter, exploded when opponent Pablo Marcal, a far-right influencer, said Datena was not man enough to hit him as he had previously threatened.

Datena had threatened to hit Marcal in a prior debate when Marcal raised a 2019 complaint of sexual harassment against Datena by a coworker. The coworker withdrew her complaint, but later said she had been intimidated into silence.

In his rage on Sunday, Datena picked up a chair and brought it crashing down on Marcal's shoulder. Datena, who is polling in fifth place for the Oct. 6 election, was expelled from the debate. Marcal left to get medical attention for a bruised rib, his spokesperson said.

The remaining candidates continued the debate.

Marcal, a political novice whose campaign surged as his vitriolic debate appearances have gone viral, is polling third behind conservative incumbent Ricardo Nunes and his leftist rival Guilherme Boulos.

Nunes and Boulos are running close in the polls, each with about a quarter of voter intentions, according to pollster Datafolha.

A half dozen pollsters announced new surveys to gauge the fallout from Sunday's debate in the city of 11.5 million people.

Political consultancy Eurasia said it did not expect the incident to have an impact on the race, while another said it could help Datena, who was polling around 6%.

"Most voters had no idea he was a candidate and now everyone is talking about him. He could grow in the polls," said Andre Cesar at Hold Assessoria Legislativa consultancy. "It was good theater, aimed to help a lagging campaign," he said.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Brad Haynes and Cynthia Osterman)

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

W5 Investigates

W5 Investigates What it's like to interview a narco

Drug smuggling is the main industry for Mexican cartels, but migrant smuggling is turning into a financial windfall. In this fourth instalment of CTV W5's 'Narco Jungle: The Death Train,' Avery Haines is in Juarez where she speaks with one of the human smugglers known as 'coyotes.'

Local Spotlight