Brazil's Lula, Bolsonaro snub final TV debate ahead of Sunday's polls

Brazil’s final election TV debate was scrapped on Thursday after the main contenders for Sunday’s presidential polls opted to skip the event.

Leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro are frontrunners in the first round of the race, which includes 10 other candidates.

The debate organised by popular broadcaster, TV Globo, included two other candidates and offered the final opportunity for the country’s 158 million voters to watch them face off.

It marks the first time in 20 years that Brazil's leading candidates have rejected any public confrontation.

Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, pulled out of the debate hours after Lula said he would not be attending.

TV Globo said it cancelled the event after receiving last-minute court rulings that altered previously agreed debate rules, including restrictions ​on referring to absent candidates.

Analysts say Lula and Bolsonaro have both conducted a strategy of avoiding direct confrontations on stage before the first round of voting.

They are still likely to clash in the three weeks before the 25 October runoff, should there be one.

Recent polls show the two men as the only candidates with a real chance of reaching the second round or scoring an outright win.

Both made online broadcasts at the same time as the debate was scheduled.