Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro authorize breaking of secrecy, but data remains undisclosed
Campaigns of the presidential candidates submitted documents to TSE, however bank, tax and phone information has not yet been made public; deadlock occurs ahead of the second round of the 2026 elections
The campaigns of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) delivered, on Thursday (22), to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), documents authorizing the opening of bank, tax and telephone secrets of the two candidates for the Presidency of the Republic. Despite the agreement, neither side had publicly released the data until Friday morning (23).
The situation takes place two days before the second round of the 2026 presidential elections and a few hours before the last debate between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro, scheduled for this Friday, in TV Globo.
Campaigns deliver documents, but information is not public
Lula’s campaign was the first to appear at TSE, delivering a set of physical documents that contained mainly powers of attorney and authorizations for access to financial and telephone information of the president, family members and people and institutions linked to him.
In the documentation, the representatives of the petista requested that the minister André Mendonça, vice president of TSE, act as mediator to ensure the authenticity and the simultaneous disclosure of the information of the two candidates. However, Mendonça had already clarified that the voluntary disclosure of the data does not depend on judicial authorization.
According to the minister, it is up to the candidates themselves to decide how and when to present their information publicly. Justiça Eleitoral will not assume responsibility for organizing or intermediating such disclosure.
Flávio Bolsonaro Cobra Disclosure of Corporate Cards
In the early hours of Friday (23), representatives of Partido Liberal also presented documents to TSE. During the proceedings, the defense of Flávio Bolsonaro again collected information on corporate card spending from the Presidency of the Republic.
The requirement, however, was not part of the formal agreement previously established between the campaigns. The senator’s team also questioned André Mendonça’s participation as a mediator of the process, arguing that the disclosure represents a political compromise between the candidates, and not an issue that requires judicial intervention.
Understand how the secrecy dispute began
The discussion began in the presidential debate held by the Band on Sunday (18), when Lula challenged Flávio Bolsonaro to disclose banking and telephone information. After the challenge, the PL candidate conditioned the opening of his own data to the inclusion of information regarding the Lula Institute, to people close to the president and to expenses linked to the corporate card of the first lady, Janja da Silva.
The campaign agreed to extend the commitment, but presented an additional requirement: the inclusion of financial data of a company linked to lawyer Willer Tomaz, friend of Flávio Bolsonaro and investigated by the Federal Police.
The company Alcazar, registered in Madeira Island, Portugal, has a connection with the senator, indicated by the Federal Police as a user with maximum level of access to one of his bank accounts. The holding company subsequently filed a petition with TSE informing that it agreed to the opening of the financial records.
TSE claims candidates can disclose data on their own
In a decision released on Thursday, André Mendonça reinforced that the participants in the agreement can voluntarily make their information available without the need for Justiça Eleitoral’s authorization. The minister also stressed that the spontaneous presentation of extracts, tax returns and other records does not replace any investigations conducted by the competent bodies.
This means that the disclosure of the documents, if it occurs, does not represent a judicial audit or prove, in itself, the existence or non-existence of irregularities.
Disclosure remains indefinite prior to debate
Even after the delivery of the powers of attorney, there is still no confirmation as to when the data will be made available to the public. Lula’s campaign even suggested the use of the DivulgaCand system, the TSE platform that gathers official information from candidates. However, as the court has said it will not participate in the disclosure, campaigns will need to define their own publishing mechanisms.
The episode extends attention to the issue of transparency in the final straight of the presidential dispute. Until the last update of the information, the agreement signed between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro had not yet resulted in the public disclosure of the promised documents.
Read also: Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro meet today in the last debate before the second round
The second round of the presidential elections takes place on Sunday, October 25.
