Local legislatures in Brazil even more fragmented than Congress

Brazil’s legislative elections are anything but straightforward affairs. Unlike countries such as the U.S. or the United Kingdom which use first-past-the-post systems, Brazil’s legislatures are elected using proportional representation — a multi-level process which takes days to fully calculate.

(Editor-in-chief Gustavo Ribeiro explained each step in a 2018 piece you can read here.)

While this system allows for minorities to gain parliamentary representation without needing to have mastodonic party structures in their corner, it also breeds massive levels of fragmentation. In a country with 33 active political parties and counting, this often leads to abnormal electoral landscapes.

Nowhere is this issue clearer than in the city of Vitória, capital of the southeastern state of Espírito Santo. Its 15 city council seats will be occupied by representatives from 13 different parties.

In São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, the 55 municipal legislature seats will...