Colima Colima (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Colima), is one of the 31 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and ...

is a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

in West

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

that is divided into ten

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. According to the 2020 Mexican

Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, it has the smallest population of all Mexico's states with inhabitants, and is the fifth smallest by land area spanning . Municipalities in Colima are administratively autonomous of the state according to the 115th article of the 1917

Constitution of Mexico The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States ( es, Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in th ...

. The legal framework for Colima's municipalities is provided by Title VII of the state Constitution and the 2001 Law of Free Municipalities in the State of Colima. Every three years, citizens elect a

municipal president A ''presidente municipal'' (English: "municipal president") is the chief of government of municipios in Mexico. This title was also used in the Philippines under the Spanish and American colonization; it is comparable to a mayor of the town or city ...

(Spanish: ''presidente municipal'') by a

plurality voting Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...

system who heads a concurrently elected municipal council (''ayuntamiento'') responsible for providing all the public services for their constituents. The municipal council consists of a variable number of trustees and councillors (''regidores y síndicos''). Municipalities are responsible for public services (such as water and sewerage), street lighting, public safety, traffic, and the maintenance of public parks, gardens and cemeteries. They may also assist the state and federal governments in education, emergency fire and medical services, environmental protection and maintenance of monuments and historical landmarks. Since 1984, they have had the power to collect property taxes and user fees, although more funds are obtained from the state and federal governments than from their own income. Article 88 of the state Constitution and Articles 11, 60 and 61 of the state's Law of Free Municipalities provide for the establishment of auxiliary authorities (''autoridades auxiliares'') to represent communities in the municipalities other than the municipal seat (''cabecera''). These are elected by residents of the communities every three years, and are unipersonal except in rural communities with a population over 2,000 inhabitants, which elect boards (''juntas'') comprising a president, secretary and treasurer. Auxiliary authorities serve as liaisons between local communities and the municipal government. They do not have executive powers and do not constitute an independent level of local government. The largest municipality by population in Colima is Manzanillo, with 191,031 residents, and the smallest municipality is

Ixtlahuacán Ixtlahuacán is a city and seat of the municipality of Ixtlahuacán, in the Mexican state of Colima Colima (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Colima), is one of the 31 states that make up t ...

with 5,623 residents. The largest municipality by area is also Manzanillo which spans , while

Villa de Álvarez Ciudad de Villa de Álvarez is a city in the Mexican state of Colima. It is the municipal seat of Villa de Álvarez municipality. The city is adjacent to the northwest side of the state capital city of Colima and the two can be considered as "t ...

is the smallest at . The first municipality to incorporate was

on and the newest municipality is

Armería Armería is a municipality in the south-central part of the Mexican state of Colima. Ciudad de Armería is a city and the seat of Armería municipality. The municipality reported 29,599 inhabitants in the 2015 census and has an area of 341.60 ...

which incorporated .

Municipalities

File:Beach_West_of_Karmina_Palace_-_panoramio.jpg, alt=Manzanillo Bay, Manzanillo, Colima's largest municipality by population File:Basílica Menor de Colima.jpg, alt=Basílica Menor de Colima,

, capital and second largest municipality by population File:Villa d Alvarez.JPG, alt=Downtown Villa de Álvarez,

, third largest municipality by population.

References

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