Ávila Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

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 ...

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

, Spain, which is divided into 248

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, Ávila is the 46th largest of the 50 provinces by population, with inhabitants, and the 15th 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 Castile and León also contains provisions concerning the relations between the municipalities and the autonomous government of Castile and León. 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. 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 municipalities within the province of Ávila are in turn grouped into ''

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

s''. The largest municipality by population in the province as of the 2024 Spanish census is

, its capital, with 59,119 residents, while the smallest is

Blasconuño de Matacabras Blasconuño de Matacabras () is a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and ...

, with 14 residents. The largest municipality by area is also Ávila, which spans , while

Poyales del Hoyo Poyales del Hoyo is a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2006 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 598 inhabitants. During the spanish civil war, three women taken from Poyale ...

is the smallest at .

Municipalities

Avila 001.jpg, alt=Panoramic view of Ávila, surrounded by its city walls,

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. CastilloDeArévaloP1090966.JPG, alt=View of the castle of Arévalo, with a Spanish flag raised,

Arévalo Arévalo is a municipality in Spain, it is situated in the province of Ávila and is part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. The name came from the Celtic word ''arevalon'', meaning "place near the wall." Regional importance The ...

, the second largest municipality by population in the province of Ávila View of Arenas de San Pedro modified.JPG, alt=Aerial view of Arenas de San Pedro, surrounded by mountains,

Arenas de San Pedro Arenas de San Pedro is a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2006 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 6,682 inhabitants. Its seal Seal may refer to any of the following: ...

is the province's third largest municipality by population. View of Las Navas del Marqués.jpg, alt=View of Las Navas del Marqués from a distance, with the Magalia castle-palace highlighted in the background,

Las Navas del Marqués Las Navas del Marqués is a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain. It is 82 km to the northwest of Madrid. There are some different options to travel there from Madrid or Avila: you can go by car or by tr ...

, Ávila's fourth largest municipality by population

References

Works cited

* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:List of municipalities in Avila Avila

Municipalities

See also

References

Works cited

External links