Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva presented a constitutional amendment on Wednesday that would reserve budget funds for free public transport on weekends and holidays, tying the move to workers’ newly expanded right to rest.

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The initiative would redirect 26.8% of parliamentary budget amendments to fund the program, which the government says would strengthen working-class access to leisure and urban mobility.

It envisions reallocating 11.2 billion reais (more than 2.2 billion dollars) from the budget controlled by Congress, whose concentration of resources has historically limited the federal government’s ability to carry out social policies. The proposal still needs to pass Congress.

RELATED: Lula Signs Constitutional Amendment Reducing Brazil’s Workweek to 40 Hours

The Brazilian government argues that this concentration of resources in parliamentary hands has historically limited the federal government’s capacity to carry out social programs. Reassigning the money, officials contend, restores room for initiatives aimed at urban mobility and access to leisure for the working class.

PESSOAL URGENTE 🚨

Lula anuncia tarifa zero para ônibus aos fins de semana em todo o país. PEC foi enviada ao Congresso e prevê que parte do orçamento das emendas parlamentares financie a medida. #FandomsComLula pic.twitter.com/cYNB8bGf9q

— Fandoms Com Lula ⭐️ (@fandomscomlula) October 21, 2026

During the same ceremony at Planalto Palace Lula signed a separate law forgiving 16 billion reais (about $3.1 billion) in tax debts accumulated by individual microentrepreneurs, a category that covers millions of small producers and self-employed workers.

Administration officials portrayed the debt pardon as a lifeline for families whose tax obligations had outpaced their ability to pay. The two measures, they said, respond to the same pressure weighing on popular households across Brazil.

The Brazilian President described the weekend transport plan as a pilot program. Its purpose is to measure the social and operational impact of the zero fare model before any decision to extend it nationwide.

Lula’s administration said the project complements the recent reduction of the working week, helping workers make effective use of their right to rest. Days before Wednesday’s event, Lula attended the Senate promulgation of a separate constitutional amendment that abolishes the six-days-on, one-day-off schedule. The change secures two paid days of rest each week, preferably Saturday and Sunday, and shortens the maximum work week without cutting pay.

🚍 MAIS TEMPO PARA VIVER!

Hoje enviamos ao Congresso a PEC da Tarifa Zero, que propõe transporte público gratuito aos fins de semana e feriados em todo o Brasil e em cidades que possuem transporte público.

Essa proposta se conecta a uma conquista fundamental: o fim da escala… pic.twitter.com/yOcfXFuZ05

— Lula (@LulaOficial) October 21, 2026

Despite criticism from far-right sectors backing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the executive said it will deepen its commitment to restoring rights and defending popular gains. The announcements come days before the October 25 presidential runoff in which Lula faces Bolsonaro.

The weekend fare initiative arrives as Lula’s administration pushes a broader agenda of recovering social and labor protections. The Brazilian President has linked the transit measure and the shorter work week as parts of a single effort to lift the weight of daily costs from working families.

Twenty million families living in poverty will begin receiving extra cash this week, just days before the runoff in Brazil’s closely contested presidential election. The 15% increase in payments from Bolsa Família (the Workers Party’s flagship anti-poverty program) that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced in September, shortly before the first round of voting, is reaching the pockets of the neediest just ahead of Sunday’s runoff vote.

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© Ricardo Rimoli (EFE)

A new Quaest poll shows the far-right senator with 45% of voter support and the progressive president with 44%.

On Wednesday, polling firm Quaest revealed that Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro’s lead over President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in voting intentions for Brazil’s presidential runoff had narrowed from 2 points last week to just 1 point.

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If the election were held today, the far-right candidate, who received the most votes in the first round, would receive 45% of the vote, while the progressive president would garner 44%, indicating that the two remain statistically tied because the poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

In the poll conducted last week by the same firm, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) had 46% of voter support, a decline of 1 point, while Lula, who is seeking reelection and a fourth nonconsecutive term, had 44%, unchanged from the previous survey.

The new poll, released just four days before the runoff scheduled for Oct. 25, confirmed that the presidential election ranks among Brazil’s most polarized, with the country still divided between the progressivism led by Lula and the far-right politics of the Bolsonaro clan.

Quaest: Lula amplia vantagem entre beneficiários do Bolsa Família. O candidato à reeleição aumentou de 60% para 62%. Ao mesmo tempo, Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) caiu de 31% para 27%.

➡️ #GloboNewsRadar – de segunda a sexta, às 8h30, na #GloboNews. Assista na TV e no Globoplay pic.twitter.com/43AKlyZnCE

— GloboNews (@GloboNews) October 21, 2026

The text reads, “Quaest: Lula expands his lead among Bolsa Família beneficiaries. The candidate seeking reelection rose from 60% to 62%. At the same time, Flavio Bolsonaro (PL) fell from 31% to 27%.”

According to Quaest, which interviewed 2,154 voters between Saturday and Tuesday, the percentage of undecided voters rose from 1% to 2% over the past week, while the percentage of those intending to cast blank ballots or invalidate their votes remained at 9%.

The new poll was conducted after the candidates’ first televised debate on Oct. 18 and after the Brazilian president announced new measures. In addition to the reduction of the workweek from 44 to 40 hours, with two days off and no reduction in pay, Lula announced in recent days a measure to forgive microentrepreneurs’ debts and a bill to provide free bus transportation on weekends.

Bolsonaro received the most votes in the first round of the presidential election, with 47.03%, while Lula finished second with 45.16%, leaving a gap of less than 2 percentage points between them.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE