By Staff, Agencies

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Tuesday that he had asked the country’s top electoral authority to lift the confidentiality of his banking and telephone records covering the past eight years.

Lula described the move as an effort to defend his honor and challenged his election rival, Flavio Bolsonaro, to agree to the same transparency measures.

Under a petition submitted to the Superior Electoral Court [TSE] and the Supreme Federal Court, the proposed waiver would allow scrutiny of banking, tax, and communications records belonging to Lula, First Lady Janja, their five children, and associated companies, provided Flavio Bolsonaro agrees to reciprocal disclosure.

Flavio Bolsonaro had not immediately accepted the challenge.

The move comes ahead of Brazil’s presidential runoff scheduled for October 25. Neither Lula nor Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, secured more than 50% of the vote required to win the presidency in the first round held on October 4.