Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro has dropped out of the final televised debate ahead of a tense first round of voting, accusing the electoral court of "censorship."
The right-wing senator, the son of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, announced his withdrawal late on Thursday, just two hours before Brazil's largest television station TV Globo was set to air the programme.
Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who holds a slight poll lead ahead of Sunday's vote, had already refused to attend, opting to appear on a popular podcast instead.
"I have just decided not to go to Globo's debate due to the censorship imposed on the event by the TSE (the Superior Electoral Court)," Bolsonaro wrote on X.
The court ruled earlier in the evening that TV Globo could not leave an empty chair on the set to represent Lula's absence, according to the decision seen by AFP.
This ruling also prohibits participants from using their speaking time to address the empty chair to highlight the president's no-show.
Polls project a dead heat between the two ideologically opposed candidates in a potential runoff on October 25.
A Datafolha institute poll published Thursday evening gives Lula 48 percent of voting intentions compared with 45 percent for Bolsonaro in the possible second round.
Brazil orders probe into alleged US interference
Also on Thursday, Brazil's attorney general ordered the police to investigate allegations that US President Donald Trump's administration was using government funds to promote a "far-right agenda" in the South American country.
Lula has made Brazil's sovereignty a central campaign theme, warning against "meddling" by Trump, who has backed several right-wing candidates in recent Latin American elections.
Attorney General Jorge Messias called for the probe a day after Britain's The Guardian newspaper published an article alleging that Trump's administration planned to award $1 million to fund civil society groups opposing Brazil's Supreme Court.
The article "raises a serious red flag regarding Brazilian sovereignty," Messias wrote on X.
He said efforts to meddle in Brazilian institutions "cannot be tolerated."
In a separate statement announcing the complaint, the attorney general's office said the Guardian report was "particularly serious, given the ongoing Brazilian electoral process and recent episodes of external pressure on the country's institutions."
Trump was a close ally of Bolsonaro's father, the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup after he lost a re-election bid in 2022.
The US administration briefly imposed sanctions against Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes who led the trial against Jair Bolsonaro, which Trump slammed as a "witch hunt" against his ally.
