Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

in the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, Spain, which is divided into 103

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

. Spanish census, Málaga is the 6th largest of the 50 provinces by population, with inhabitants, and the 35th largest by land area, spanning . Municipalities are the basic local political division in Spain and can only belong to one province. They enjoy a large degree of autonomy in their local administration, being in charge of tasks such as urban planning, water supply, lighting, roads, local police, and firefighting. The organisation of municipalities in Spain is outlined in a

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

law (; ) passed on 2 April 1985 and finalised by an 18 April 1986 royal decree. The Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia also contains provisions concerning the relations between the municipalities and the autonomous government of Andalusia. All citizens of Spain are required to register in the municipality in which they reside. Each municipality is a corporation with independent

legal person In law, a legal person is any person or legal entity that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, lawsuit, sue and be sued, ownership, own property, and so on. The reason for the term "''le ...

hood: its governing body is called the ''

ayuntamiento ''Ayuntamiento'' ()In other languages of Spain: * (). * (). * (). is the general term for the town council, or ''cabildo'', of a municipality or, sometimes, as is often the case in Spain and Latin America, for the municipality itself. is mai ...

'' (

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

), a term often also used to refer to the municipal offices (city and town halls). The ''ayuntamiento'' is composed of the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

(), the

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

s (''tenientes de alcalde'') and the plenary assembly (''pleno'') of

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

s (''concejales''). Municipalities are categorised by population for the purpose of determining the number of councillors: three when the population is up to 100 inhabitants, five for 101250, seven for 2511,000, nine for 1,0012,000, eleven for 2,0015,000, thirteen for 5,00110,000, seventeen for 10,00120,000, twenty-one for 20,00150,000, and twenty-five for 50,001100,000. One councillor is added for every additional 100,000 inhabitants, with a further one added when the number of councillors based on this methodology would be even in order to prevent tied votes. The mayor and the deputy mayors are elected by the plenary assembly, which is itself elected by

universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...

. Elections in municipalities with more than 250 inhabitants are carried out following a

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

system with

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

s, whilst those with a population lower than 250 use a

block plurality voting Plurality block voting is a type of block voting method for multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled. The candidates with the most votes are elected. The usual result when the candidates divi ...

system with

open list Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a Political party, party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, in which party lists ...

s. The plenary assembly must meet periodically at the seat of the ''ayuntamiento'', with meetings occurring more or less frequently depending on the population of the municipality: monthly for those whose population is larger than 20,000, once every two months if it ranges between 5,001 and 20,000, and once every three months if it does not exceed 5,000. Many ''ayuntamientos'' also have a local governing board (), which is named by the mayor from amongst the councillors and is required for municipalities of more than 5,000 inhabitants. The board, whose role is to assist the mayor between meetings of the plenary assembly, may not include more than one third of the councillors. The largest municipality by population in the province as of the 2024 Spanish census is

, its capital, with 592,346 residents, while the smallest is

Atajate Atajate is a municipality in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalucia in southern Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. ...

, with 196 residents. The largest municipality by area is

Antequera Antequera () is a city and municipality in the Comarca de Antequera, province of Málaga, part of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is known as "the heart of Andalusia" (''el corazón de An ...

, which spans , while

Árchez Árchez is a small village in the province of Málaga, in southern Spain. The village is situated approximately 21 kilometres from Vélez Málaga. It has a population of approximately 408 residents, who are known as Archeros. Archez is located in ...

is the smallest at .

Municipalities

Vista de Málaga desde el castillo de Gibralfaro, España, 2023-05-20, DD 113.jpg, alt=View of Málaga and its port from the heights of Gibralfaro castle,

the province ''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they ...

's capital and largest municipality by population. Captivating Views of Old Town Marbella.jpg, alt=View the streets of the old town of Marbella,

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the re ...

, the second largest municipality by population in the province of Málaga Mijas 05.jpg, alt=View of the entrance to a hermitage in Mijas,

Mijas Mijas ( ; ) is a municipality in the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Located on the southeastern coast of Spain, Mijas belongs to the region of Costa del Sol Occidental. Its center is a typical Andalusian white- ...

is the province of Málaga's third largest municipality by population. Castillo de Vélez-Málaga.jpg, alt=View of Vélez-Málaga, with a castle on top of a hill,

Vélez-Málaga Vélez-Málaga () is a municipality and the capital of the Axarquía comarca in the province of Málaga, in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the most important city in the comarca. Locally it is referred to as Vélez. Vélez- ...

, the province of Málaga's fourth largest municipality by population Fuengirola Puerto 02.jpg, alt=View of Fuengirola's harbour, with residential buildings in the background,

Fuengirola Fuengirola () is a city on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is located on the central coast of the province and integrated into the region of the Costa del Sol and the Com ...

, the fifth largest municipality by population in the province of Málaga Estepona aerial.jpg, alt=Aerial view of Estepona, with football stadiums, residential buildings and the sea in the background,

Estepona Estepona () is a town and municipality in the comarca of the Costa del Sol, southern Spain. It is located in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its district covers an area of 137 square kilometers in a fertile ...

is the province of Málaga's sixth largest municipality by population.

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* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:List of municipalities in Malaga Malaga

Municipalities

See also

Notes

References

Works cited

External links