Ayuntamiento (Spain)

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An Ayuntamiento is the body charged with the government and administration of the municipalities in Spain not bound to the regime of concejo abierto ("open council").[n. 1]

The Ayuntamiento, formed by the Mayor and the Councillors, is charged with the municipal government and administration.[1] An ayuntamiento is formed by a Mayor (alcalde) and the elected councillors, who compose the plenary (pleno). In municipalities with over 5000 inhabitants, a Government Commission (junta de gobierno or comisión de gobierno) is mandatory, while the existence of the body in municipalities under that population is at the discretion of the Plenary or the regulations of the Ayuntamiento.[2][3]

Since the 1978 Spanish Constitution, the Ayuntamiento follows a collegiate-representative model, with features of a corporative organism such as the double presidency of both the deliberative body (the Plenary) and the executive body by the Mayor, and the formation of the Government Commission exclusively by elected councillors.[4]

Unlike in other European countries the Mayor is not directly elected.[5] They are invested by the councillors. The indirect election, stated in the 1978 Local Elections Act was confirmed in the General Electoral System Act of 1985.[6] The system of municipal organization is described in the 1985 Local Government Act.[7] An 11/1999 Law superseding some features of the 1985 Act set increased powers for the Mayor, but the plenary also gained more scrutiny over these powers.[4] The Plenary lacks legislative autonomy.[8]

The method by which the mayor is elected is as follows. If no head of list of each electoral list commands an absolute majority of the votes of the councillors in the Plenary, the head of list of the most voted list becomes Mayor.[9]

The executive arm includes the Mayor, the deputy mayors (tenientes de alcalde) and the executive committee formed by a number of the elected councillors (junta or consejo de gobierno).[5] While the plenary retains the vote of censure to remove the Mayor, the system confers much power upon the Mayor, which has become a point of controversy.[10]

The municipalities of Madrid and Barcelona have a special system,[11] regulated by the 2006 Law of Capitality and Special Regime in the case of the Ayuntamiento of Madrid and by the Municipal Charter of Barcelona, approved in the 22/1998 Catalan law in the case of Barcelona.[12]

Informational notes

  1. ^ Under the concejo abierto system, which exists in the municipalities under 100 inhabitants, in municipalities with a tradition of using the system or in the case of geographical circumstances that favor it, the government and administration are performed by the mayor and the "neighbourhood assembly" (Spanish: Asamblea vecinal).

References

  1. ^ Local Government Act 1985, Article 19.
  2. ^ Local Government Act 1985.
  3. ^ Moreno Sardà, Molina Rodríguez-Navas & Corcoy Rius 2013, p. 509.
  4. ^ a b Zafra Víctor 2004, p. 107.
  5. ^ a b Cools & Verbeek 2013.
  6. ^ Márquez Cruz 2010, p. 44.
  7. ^ Márquez Cruz 1999, p. 312.
  8. ^ Zafra Víctor 2004, p. 108.
  9. ^ Electoral Systems 1999.
  10. ^ Canel 1994, p. 49.
  11. ^ Márquez Cruz 2010, p. 39.
  12. ^ Rodríguez Álvarez 2010, pp. 85–86.

Bibliography

  • Canel, María José (1994). "Local government in the Spanish autonomic state". Local Government Studies. 20 (1): 44–59. doi:10.1080/03003939408433710.
  • Cools, Marc; Verbeek, Leen (19–21 March 2013). Local and regional democracy in Spain. Council of Europe.
  • "Local Government Act (Organic Law 7/1985)" (in Spanish). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. 1985. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  • Márquez Cruz, Guillermo (1999). "Veinte años de democracia local en España: elecciones, producción de gobierno, moción de censura y élite política (1979-1999)" [Twenty years of local democracy in Spain: elections, governments, censure motions and political elites (1979-1999)]. Revista de estudios políticos (in Spanish) (106). Madrid: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales: 289–334. ISSN 0048-7694.
  • Márquez Cruz, Guillermo (2010). "Gobernabilidad local en España". Política y Sociedad. 47 (3). Madrid: Complutense University of Madrid: 37–66. ISSN 1130-8001.
  • Moreno Sardà, A; Molina Rodríguez-Navas, P; Corcoy Rius, M (2013). "La información de las administraciones públicas locales. Las webs de los ayuntamientos de Cataluña". Revista Latina de Comunicación Social. 68. La Laguna: University of La Laguna: 502–528. ISSN 1138-5820.
  • Rodríguez Álvarez, José Manuel (2010). "Estructura institucional y organización territorial local en España: fragmentación municipal, asociacionismo confuso, grandes ciudades y provincias supervivientes". Política y Sociedad. 47 (3). Madrid: Complutense University of Madrid. ISSN 1130-8001.
  • Zafra Víctor, Manuel (2004). "Reflexiones sobre el gobierno local" (pdf). Anuario del Gobierno Local (1). Barcelona: Institut de Dret Públic: 97–116. ISBN 84-609-5895-7. ISSN 2013-4924. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-08-09.
  • "Electoral Systems and Voting Procedures at Local Level". Local and Regional Authorities in Europe (68). Council of Europe: 35. January 1999. ISBN 9287139830.
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