President Lula's government failed to respond to 30,245 requests made through the Access to Information Law (LAI) from January 2023 to December 2025, accounting for 6.6% of the total 379,000 requests received. This rate indicates an improvement from 2023 but still exceeds that of the Bolsonaro administration. Experts suggest the actual figures may be higher due to improper classifications.
The Lula government accumulated 30,245 unanswered requests via LAI during its term up to December 2025, according to data from the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU). This volume represents 6.6% of the total 379,000 requests received since January 2023.
Compared to the first year of the administration in 2023, when the rate was 6.9%, there is a slight decrease. However, the figure remains above the 5.3% seen over the four years of former President Jair Bolsonaro's (PL) tenure.
Lawyer and transparency activist Bruno Morassutti, co-founder of the data agency Fiquem Sabendo, warns that the numbers may be underestimated. "Public agencies often classify decisions improperly," he states.
In 2025, the main justifications for denials were: secrecy, in 3,387 cases; ongoing decision-making process, in 1,470; personal data, in 1,288; and generic requests, in 1,272.
Morassutti explains possible reasons for the increase in refusals under Lula: "Recent studies associate coalition governments, dependent on broad congressional support, with a higher volume of refusals to information requests. One reason is that the government has less interest in generating friction with its allies, precisely because it needs to maintain base support".
These figures highlight ongoing challenges in public transparency in Brazil, despite relative improvements.
