Town Halls
One place where most new residents will find themselves in one queue or another is the local Town Hall, or Ayuntamiento. This is the seat of the Municipal Council; a more powerful version of a borough or town council.
Another beneficiary of government grants and local taxes, the Municipio probably has the most obvious influence on our daily lives. There are over 8,000 Municipalities in Spain. Their elections are the only level that non-Spanish resident Europeans can vote in, and the next ones are in 2011.
Chairman of the council, in charge of the local administration and head of the local police, is the Mayor. Though these powerful local figures shoulder a heavy workload, they uniformly display admirable dedication to their public relations responsibilities and beam from the pages of the local newspapers at every opportunity.
The Mayor is elected by a council that is made up by members from different parties, according to the proportional representation of the electorate every four years. Elections are hard to miss in Tenerife. Billboards, banners and advertisements abound; noise pollution regulations are temporarily forgotten as megaphone mounted cars spread the political message; and letterboxes become crammed with electioneering paraphernalia.
The electoral system of proportional representation often means that councils are made up of members from a number of parties. In Tenerife, there are local parties to compete with the nationally represented socialist PSOE and the conservative PP, such as the CC (Coalición Canarias). This means that, in most councils, parties will not have an outright majority, but will have to form a pact to gain power, sometimes with their most bitter enemies. Compromises can be odd, for example in one case at least, Mayors agreed to swap over half way though term in order to reach agreement.
Useful Links about local government in Tenerife
- Adeje - http://www.ayuntamientodeadeje.es/
- Arona - http://www.arona.org/
- Buenavista del Norte - http://www.buenavistadelnorte.com/
- Candelaria - http://www.candelaria.es/
- El Rosario - http://www.ayuntamientoelrosario.org/
- Fasnia - http://www.fasnia.com/
- Granadilla de Abona - http://www.granadilladeabona.org
- Guía de Isora - http://www.guiadeisora.org/
- Güímar - http://www.guimar.es/
- Icod de los Vinos - http://www.icoddelosvinos.com/
- La Guancha - http://www.aytolaguancha.com
- La Matanza de Acentejo - http://www.matanceros.com
- La Orotava - http://www.villadelaorotava.org/
- La Victoria de Acentejo - http://www.lavictoriadeacentejo.com
- Los Realejos - http://www.ayto-realejos.es/
- Los Silos - http://www.lossilos.es
- San Cristóbal de La Laguna - http://www.aytolalaguna.org/
- San Juan de la Rambla - http://www.aytosanjuandelarambla.es/
- San Miguel de Abona - http://www.sanmigueldeabona.org/
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife - http://www.sctfe.es/
- Santa Ursula - http://www.santaursula.es
- Santiago del Teide - http://www.santiagodelteide.org/
- Tacoronte - http://www.tacoronte.es/
- Tegueste - http://www.tegueste.es/
- Vilaflor - http://www.vilaflor.org/
Government