Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s re-election on 25 October 2026 is more than another demonstration of political resilience. Raza Rumi, writing in The Friday Times, rightly emphasises Lula’s organisation, policies and performance over charisma alone. Yet one element of his political endurance remains understated. Brazil’s constitutionally protected municipalities, substantially empowered through devolution, created democratic spaces in which the Workers’ Party could organise, govern and remain relevant even when its leaders were out of national power.

Brazil’s 1988 Constitution recognises municipalities as autonomous components of the federation. They elect mayors and councils, legislate on local matters, collect designated taxes and receive constitutionally structured transfers. Their autonomy is not absolute, nor is their capacity uniform. But municipal government is a durable arena of democratic competition, not merely an administrative privilege granted by a state government.

Here lies perhaps Brazil’s most important lesson for Pakistan’s unfinished debate on devolution. Brazil’s Constitution does not merely instruct states to establish municipalities; it recognises them as autonomous constituents of the federal order, with constitutionally defined powers and responsibilities. Pakistan’s Article 140A, by contrast, acknowledges local government but leaves much of its authority and institutional security dependent on provincial legislation. The difference is between constitutional recognition and constitutional protection. Brazil has embedded municipal autonomy within its federal architecture; Pakistan has yet to complete that architecture below the provincial tier. The challenge is not simply to create local governments, but to secure their place in the constitutional order.

The demographic contrast makes Pakistan’s deficiency more conspicuous. Brazil, with an estimated 214 million people, has 5,569 municipalities—about 38,500 residents per municipality. Pakistan, with a projected population approaching 260 million, has more people living within a fraction of Brazil’s geographical expanse. Yet its extensive network of local bodies does not possess equivalent constitutional standing.

Indeed, Pakistan is hardly short of councils. A widely used........

© The Friday Times