The Mayor-President of the Autonomous City of Melilla ( es, Presidente de la Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla) or simply the President of Melilla, is the highest authority of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

autonomous city Autonomous city is a type of autonomous administrative division. Argentina The 1994 amendment of the Constitution of Argentina granted Buenos Aires city, previously the federal district of Argentina, the status of autonomous city, to allow its c ...

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was pa ...

, acting as

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...

and as presiding officer of the Assembly of Melilla. The current and 5th Mayor-President of Melilla is Eduardo de Castro of the

Citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

, who has held the office since 15 June 2019. Prior to March 1995, when the enclave's

Statute of Autonomy Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy ( es, Estatuto de Autonomía, ca, Estatut d'Autonomia, gl, Estatuto de Autonomía, ast, Estatutu d'Autonomía, eu, Autonomia Estatutua) is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country and, ...

was passed, the city was part of

Province of Málaga The province of Málaga ( es, Provincia de Málaga ) is located in Andalusia, Spain. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and by the provinces of Cádiz to the west, Seville to the northwest, Córdoba to the north, and Granada to ...

Duties and powers

The mayor-president has the responsibility to lead the government; appoint the government members; represent the City; convene and preside over the sessions of the Plenary; design, develop and execute the powers entrusted to the autonomous cities by the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

; dictate regulations; execute the budget; head the civil service and hire, fire or sanction the personnel at its service; head the local police; lead the urban planning; exercise all judicial actions to defend the interests of the City; and adopt all necessary measures in case of catastrophe.

Election

The election system follows the general guidelines of all mayoral elections. The citizens vote for the local assemblies or councils on the basis of

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 sta ...

, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote. The mayor-president is in turn elected by the plenary Assembly of Melilla, with a legal clause providing for the candidate of the most-voted party to be automatically elected to the post in the event no other candidate is to gather an absolute majority of votes.

Cessation

The general cases of cessation are death, incapacitation or resignation. As in the regional or State governments, the mayor-president can be removed by a

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

approved by the majority of the local assembly. This motion necessarily needs to proposed an alternative candidate, being a

constructive vote of no confidence The constructive vote of no confidence (german: konstruktives Misstrauensvotum, es, moción de censura constructiva) is a variation on the motion of no confidence that allows a parliament to withdraw confidence from a head of government only if t ...

. The mayor-president itself can also propose a

vote of confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or m ...

in order to pass a relevant legislation and if the mayor-president fails to overcome the motion, the mayor must submit his resignation. The mayor-president can't propose more than one vote of confidence per year and this kind of motions can't be proposed on the last year of legislature. In both processes, the mayor-president can not preside over the session, so it will correspond to one of the Vice Presidents of the Assembly.

List of Mayor-Presidents of Melilla

''For a list of leaders in the period prior to Melilla becoming an autonomous community (before 1995), see: List of governors of Melilla''

Duties and powers

Election

Cessation

List of Mayor-Presidents of Melilla

References

Sources

External links