Bolsonaro and Lula face off in Brazil presidential debate

Lula, the front-runner in the race who was president from 2003 to 2010, said his government should be remembered for doing the most to reduce poverty

Brazil's main presidential candidates took their gloves off on Sunday and laid into each other in the first presidential debate for the October general election with accusations of corruption and threats to democracy.

Incumbent far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been heavily criticized for his handling of the COVID-19 crisis and attacks on Brazil's voting system, is running against former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who left office with record popularity but was convicted of bribery in 2017.

Mr. Bolsonaro said his leftist challenger led Brazil's most corrupt government ever, citing the scandal over overpriced contracts with state-run oil company Petrobras.

"Why do you want to return to power? To continue doing the same thing at Petrobras?" Mr. Bolsonaro said in the debate between six candidates on Band TV.

Mr. Lula, the front-runner in the race who was president from 2003 to 2010, said his government should be remembered for doing the most to reduce poverty.

"The country I left is a country that people miss, it's the country of employment, where people had the right to live with dignity, with their heads held high," Mr. Lula said. "This is the country that the current president is destroying".

Mr. Lula led Brazil during years of fast economic growth, but was convicted of bribery and jailed for 19 months until his convictions were annulled.