The concejo abierto (literally: "open council") is a system of government and administration of some very small
Spanish municipalities and
sub-municipal territorial units. An example of
direct democracy, the system allows for the existence of a
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 ...
and a ''consejo'' ( en, council) or ''asamblea vecinal'' ( en, neighbourhood assembly) formed by all the electors of the municipality. In contrast, the conventional system used by most municipalities 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 ...
, often translated as city, town or municipal council in English, comprised (in its most basic form) of the local councillors who form the plenary (elected in a
party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...
voting), and the Mayor, elected in turn by the councillors among themselves.
History
The origins of the system trace back to the Middle Ages, as a custom primarily originated in the Kingdoms of
León and
Castile, although it also extended to other territories as well, chiefly in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. In many settlements, the concejo abierto was replaced by the "''
regimiento The regimiento, cabildo de regidores or concejo cerrado ("closed council") was a system of local government established from the 14h century onwards in the Crown of Castile.; ; A feature of the progressive oligarchization of the form of government ...
''" system (also called ''consejo cerrado'', "close council"), in which a decision-making body of limited size formed by ''judges'' or ''alcaldes'' as well as a number of ''regidores'' appointed by the King was contemplated; in the case of Castile, this process chiefly took place between 1345 and the later years of the rule of
Alfonso XI
Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...
.
The contemporary form of the concejo abierto is recognised in the
1978 Spanish Constitution.
See also
*
Local government in Spain
Local government in Spain refers to the government and administration of what the Constitution calls "local entities", which are primarily municipalities, but also groups of municipalities including provinces, metropolitan areas, comarcas and manco ...
*
Town meeting
Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...
References
Bibliography
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Local government in Spain
Direct democracy
Forms of local government
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