The Bilbao City Council () is the

ayuntamiento ''Ayuntamiento'' ()In other languages of Spain: * ca, ajuntament (). * gl, concello (). * eu, udaletxea (). is the general term for the town council, or ''cabildo'', of a municipality or, sometimes, as is often the case in Spain and Latin Amer ...

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

). Its headquarter, the

Bilbao City Hall The City Hall of the borough of Bilbao, Spain, is located on the right bank of the Estuary of Bilbao across the Puente del Ayuntamiento bascule bridge that links it to the central Abando district. The building was built in 1892 by Joaquín Rucoba ...

, is located in the Ernesto Erkoreka Plaza. The city council is made up of an executive body and a

normative Normative generally means relating to an evaluative standard. Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A norm in ...

municipal plenary. The executive body consists of the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

and the Governing Junta of the Town of Bilbao (). The council performs executive and administrative tasks, and functions in correspondence with the mayor. The junta consists of no more than nine people, its members can be appointed by the mayor.

Municipal administration

The constituent is elected every four years by

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

. The electoral census is made up of all registered residents in Bilbao over the age of 18 as well as nationals of Spain and other member states of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. According to the General Electoral Regime Law (), the number of eligible councilors is based on the population of the municipality. The municipal plenary serves to represent the citizenry in the municipal government. It is responsible for the debate and adoption of government policies including: regulations, laws, municipal budgets, urban planning plans, service management, etc. The plenary is made up of 29 councilors and is chaired by the mayor.

Mayoralty

These are the mayors who have governed the city council since 1979: The mayor who has held office for the longest time since

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

has been

Iñaki Azkuna Iñaki Azkuna Urreta (14 February 1943 – 20 March 2014) was a Spanish politician of the Basque Nationalist Party. He was mayor of the city of Bilbao, Biscay in the Basque Country, from 1999 until his death. In 2012, Azkuna won the World May ...

(14 years) of the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party (, EAJ ; es, Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNV; french: Parti Nationaliste Basque, PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially Basque National Party in English,) was rejected by party members in November 2011. Nonetheless, the party did ...

, a position he held from the

1999 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1999. * 1999 electoral calendar Africa * 1999 Algerian presidential election * 1999 Botswana general election * 1999 Beninese parliamentary election * 1999 Central African Republic presidential elect ...

until his death in 2014, reelected in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Previously, the other mayors who held office for the longest time were Joaquín Zuazagoitia Azcorra (16 years),

Josu Ortuondo Larrea Josu Ortuondo Larrea (born 13 February 1948 in Bilbao) is a Spanish politician and Member of the European Parliament with the Basque Nationalist Party, Member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sits on the Euro ...

(8 years),

Pilar Careaga Basabe Maria del Pilar Careaga Basabe (26 October 1908 – 10 June 1993) was a Spanish politician and industrial engineer. She was the first woman to be mayor of Bilbao. Early life and education Careaga was born in Madrid, the daughter of Pedro G ...

(6 years), and

Federico Moyúa Salazar Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. People with the given name Federico Artists * Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ. * Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, ...

(6 years).

Electoral results

Political groups

The councillors form

political groups A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

, which are distributed according to their aligned ideologies in the 2019 municipal elections:

Municipal areas and entities served

International recognition

The annual reports by

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

pointed out in 2008, 2009, and 2010, that the City Council was the most "transparent" in Spain in terms of institutional communication, citizen relations, services, public works, and the economy. In 2010, Bilbao was awarded the

Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize The World Cities Summit is an international conference series on public governance and the sustainable development of cities. 2008 The first World Cities Summit, which took place in Singapore from 23 to 25 June 2008, focused on the theme of � ...

, in recognition of the City Council's leadership.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Official website of the Bilbao City Council
{{authority control Bilbao Basque Government