Urban and local government politics
City Mayors reports political events, analyses the issues and depicts the main players in urban and local government politics

French municipal elections offer
Sarkozy some crumbs of comfort
18 March 2008: In 2005 the French legislature extended the mandates of the country's 36,783 mayors by one year, arguing that it would be unfair to hold local elections as scheduled alongside the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections. Unfair on whom, it could be asked. Certainly not Nicolas Sarkozy, who would have been viewing a very different map of town hall control had the poll been held in 2007, the year of his party's dual electoral triumph and the beginning of splits within the opposition Socialist Party (PS), still recoiling at losing three presidential elections on the trot and watching from the sidelines. More

US presidential candidates
largely ignore urban issues
28 February 2008: US cities are struggling with unemployment, housing, underperforming schools, aging infrastructure, and poverty, while devoting more resources than ever to energy costs and homeland security. Mayors of the nation’s cities say that such concerns have been largely ignored in the presidential campaigns. The US Conference of Mayors has urged the presidential candidates to adopt their 10-point plan Strong Cities for a Strong America ’08. It asks candidates to commit to strengthening the economies of metropolitan areas. More

Ukrainian mayors are ready
for a municipal revolution
4 December 2007: Many mayors in the Ukraine are angry about the lack of progress of reforming the relationship between central and local government. They accuse the government of neglecting the needs of cities, towns and villages to protect the interests, and often bank accounts, of their business supporters. Now local leaders call for a municipal revolution to follow on from the country’s Orange revolution. More

Democrat city mayors did well
in American off-year elections
7 November 2007: In any other country it would be tempting to consider the results of municipal races as part of a national trend affecting the outcome of future general elections, but in the US the familiar saying all politics is local truly holds sway. While presidential contenders continue to vie for their party’s endorsement, across urban America the Democrats either returned mayors or introduced new faces into city halls. Most significantly, San Francisco’s Gavin Newsom, Houston’s Bill White, Baltimore’s Sheila Dixon and Pittsburgh’s Luke Ravenstahl, all Democrats, easily won re-election, while in Philadelphia Michael Nutter coasted home to replace term-limited John Street. More

Texan mayors want
to stop border fence
17 October 2007: Mayors of several Texas towns on or near the US border with Mexico have filed legal actions to stop the federal government from building a planned security fence to deter illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. Both Mexico's current president and former president are also weighing in against the fence. Mayors and city councils all along the Rio Grande river, which forms the border with Mexico, are banding together in an effort to stop construction of the fence. More

Even in an ‘off-year’ Americans are asked
to elect hundreds of thousands of officials
8 September 2007: The world watches closely every four years as the United States elects a new president, and most people know that congressional elections are held every other year. But many people may not realize that even in off-years, such as 2007, thousands of elective positions are filled around the country. More

Mayoral contests dominate
America’s off-year elections
5 September 2007: Ahead of the widest open presidential election in living memory set for November 2008, city races across urban America will provide few pointers to its outcome. The 'lame duck' presidency of George W. Bush and the slow-burning decline of his administration through staged departures of key allies, as well as the wooing of voters by his putative successors, will have negligible effect on mayoral races. With only three gubernatorial races penciled in this November and no elections to Congress, mayors will have the stage to themselves. Instead, the usual routine concerns and personality politics will determine the future occupancy of city halls in November's off-year elections. More

Time has come for city mayors
to challenge for US presidency
3 August, 2007: A former mayor of New York City, Rudolph Guiliani, is a leading Republican candidate for president. The city's current mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is the subject of much speculation since he is said to be considering a run. However until now, few mayors have had the national standing to aspire to the presidency. More

Democratic and Republican election rivals
pledge to change how Philadelphia is run
30 July 2007: Conversations about the state of Philadelphia, the sixth-largest US city, in this election year have a Tale-of-Two-Cities quality about them. New residents flock to the city center and some outlying districts while the city as a whole continues to lose population. House and apartment prices have risen smartly over the past decade, but employment has fallen. People stroll the streets of the city’s business and entertainment district Center City at all hours without fear, but the city is in the grip of a violent crime epidemic not seen in at least a decade. More

Russian mayors in the spotlight
ahead of key national elections
22 June 2007: High-profile lawsuits against city mayors have been a prominent feature of Russia's political life in the past year. Prosecutors say they are combating rampant corruption in municipal administrations. But the lawsuits are widely seen as part of another, ongoing battle - one aimed at muzzling dissent in the regions ahead of key elections. More

US presidential candidates are not paying
enough attention to nation’s urban issues
9 June 2007: Almost a year before the first US primary ballots are cast in January 2008, the campaign for president got rolling in earnest this spring. There was news of Rudy Giuliani's wife's undisclosed first marriage, Illinois Senator Barack Obama nipping at New York Senator Hillary Clinton's heels in the fundraising race and John Edwards' $400 haircut. All but ignored was a report from the Center for American Progress that outlined "a national strategy to cut poverty in half." Though it garnered few headlines, the poverty report forms part of a burgeoning effort to put lower-income people and urban areas closer to the campaign spotlight. More

Nationalists negotiate coalition deals
in some of Scotland’s largest cities
4 June 2007: Mayor changes are likely to affect Scotland’s cities and major towns over the next four years after the first ever Scottish National Party election success, which has resulted in that party running a minority administration in the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood (Edinburgh) and becoming the largest party in Scottish local government. More

Socialists, conservatives and nationalists
all claim success in Spanish local elections
29 May 2007: Both of Spain’s main political parties, the ruling socialists and the opposition conservatives, have declared themselves satisfied with the outcome of the country’s local and regional elections held on Sunday, 27 May 2007. While the opposition People’s Party (PP) received the highest number of votes, the centre-left Socialist Party (PSOE) gained the largest number of seats on local and regional councils. More

As costs and casualties mount
US cities urge end to Iraq war
9 May 2007: When President Bush appeared in a flight suit on the deck of aircraft carrier USS Lincoln on 1 May 2003 to declare an end to major combat in Iraq, he received high approval ratings in American public opinion polls. Four years later, the president’s ratings have fallen, and nearly 300 American cities have passed resolutions calling for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. More

As Blair prepares to leave office, his party
suffers election losses across the country
5 May 2007: In local and regional elections held across Great Britain on 3 May 2007, the country’s governing Labour Party suffered losses in most parts of England, Scotland and Wales. The most significant defeat for party of departing Prime Minister Tony Blair occurred in Scotland, where the Scottish Nationalists became the largest party in the Scottish Parliament. In regional elections in Wales, Labour failed to win an overall majority in the Welsh Assembly and will have to enter a coalition if it hopes to continue to form the regional government. Meanwhile in English local elections, Labour lost control of nine local councils, while the Conservative Party gained 38, with the Liberal Democrats, the UK’s third party, losing five. There were no elections held in London. More

Murder, bankruptcy and nuclear waste
were all part of Japan’s local elections
24 April 2007: Japan's first set of unified local polls have concluded with the second round elections held 22 April 2007. In what should have been a more low-key set of polls following the prefectural gubernatorial races held a fortnight ago, eyes were squarely on the Nagasaki mayoral vote held after the slaying of incumbent Iccho Ito, with two national by-elections also concentrating party efforts. More

Local election results boost
Japan’s governing coalition
9 April 2007: Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara was re-elected for a third term in the 8 April 2007 poll in a vote that will draw comfort for the national governing coalition, but showing the independent city chief on a much reduced tally of just 50 per cent. In a race lacking in verve from principal challenger Shiro Asano against the beleaguered incumbent, footage of Kouichi Toyama, a street entertainer running as an anarchist, from public television election broadcasts had unexpectedly become the most-played Japanese clip on YouTube on account of his confrontational speech-imploring voters to rise up against the "detestable nation". More

First unified local elections viewed with
anxiety by Japan’s two largest parties
26 March 2007: Campaigning is underway for Japan’s first ever set of unified local government elections. Previously election dates were scattered throughout the spring, leaving most races held on local issues rather than having all eyes on any national campaigning. The move towards unified local polls across Japan, as well as the rescinding of the ban on local election manifestos, was designed to reinvigorate the local democratic process by making such races more charged. More

Corruption and terrorism to dominate
Spanish regional and local elections
15 March 2007: ETA terrorism and corruption in local government: those are the two issues that will most probably decide this year’s local and regional elections in Spain. The government’s response to terrorism by ETA, the Basque region's separatist movement, and well-publicised cases of corruption in local politics have led to a polarisation of Spanish politics. For both main political parties, the socialists and conservatives, the local elections are the last major test before the next general elections. More

A new approach to persuading
local talent to serve on councils
9 February 2007: After decades of neglect the issue of where to find local councillors has become a burning topic in England. The UK government and the Local Government Association have announced a commission to be chaired by Jane Roberts, former leader of Camden Council in London, to look at the barriers and incentives into serving as a councillor. More

Iranian President suffers
defeat in local elections
21 December 2006: Final results announced by the Iranian interior ministry show that the Iranian president's opponents have won local elections held on 15 December. Moderate conservatives opposed to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a majority of the seats, followed by reformists, whose chances of electoral success were severely handicapped in 2004 by ultra-conservatives loyal to Ahmadinejad. More

John So, Lord Mayor of Melbourne
wins the 2006 World Mayor Award
5 December 2006: John So, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, has been elected World Mayor 2006. Runner up in the 2006 World Mayor contest is Job Cohen, Mayor of Amsterdam. In third place is Harrisburg’s long-serving mayor Stephen Reed, while Jejomar Binay, Mayor of Makati City, ranks fourth. Michel Thiollière, Mayor of St Etienne, completes the top five. John So will be presented with the World Mayor Award early in 2007. Previous winners are, in 2004, Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana and now also leader of Albania's socialist party, and in 2005, Dora Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens and now Greek foreign minister. More

UK government must take
a lead on elected mayors
27 November 2006: It is clear that we are living in an age when people are losing faith in organisational brands of all kinds, political, commercial and charitable. Instead, in our fast-moving world, voters and consumers want to see real, live human beings to whom they can relate, someone to blame or to praise. The days when we were motivated by a political party or a local institution are coming to an end. More

Directly elected mayors are not
an effective model for England
19 November 2006: Let me make clear from the start – I don’t like the idea of elected mayors. I have been a councillor a long, long time and do not believe that they are an effective model for most areas. I am not scared of change – I embrace it and preach it. I oppose (elected) mayors as a matter of principle and because we can already see that they are having no discernible impact on the areas they lead. More

Brazil re-elects left-wing president
but most governors are centre-right
18 November 2006: In elections often marked by doubt and surprise, Brazil re-elected its left-wing president but most state governors come from the centre-right of the political spectrum. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT  - Workers Party) won in the second round of the election with almost 61 per cent of the vote. His opponent Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB – Brazilian Social Democracy Party) received 39 per cent. At state level, left-wing and centre-left parties provide nine governors, while 17 newly elected governors belong to centre-right and right-wing parties. More

Spanish judges investigate more
cases of corrupt local government
16 November 2006: According to Berlin-based Transparency International, Spain is among the more corrupt countries in the European Union. In its 2006 international survey the organisation put Spain in 23rd place. The well-known Marbella case, involving the mayor and other local government officers, is only the tip of the iceberg and at the root of it all is urban development fraud. More

American mid-term elections:
Results from states and cities
11 November 2006: In the US, the success of the Democratic Party in taking control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections and their increased numbers of Governorships will mean new opportunities and challenges for cities in the next two years. There are now Democrat Governors in 28 states and in 15 of those they control both houses of the state legislature too. More

Marbella awaits new elections after most
local politicians are accused of corruption
1 November 2006: The sleaze scandal, which hit the southern Spanish resort city Marbella in spring 2006, soon proved to be only the tip of a massive corruption iceberg. During the spring operation, codenamed Operation Malaya, the police arrested the city’s mayor and deputy mayor amid allegations of money laundering, property development offences, including building on land protected from development, manipulation of public tenders, the acceptance of bribes as well as schemes to alter the price of municipal services. More

White Paper proposes stronger mayors
and more power to English communities
30 October 2006: The UK government has published its long-awaited white paper on local government reform for England, Strong and prosperous communities, outlining its proposals for enhanced local leadership, decentralisation to communities and more accountable local services. The reforms are seen as one of the final acts of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s administration before his scheduled departure from office next summer. More

Suspension of two Philippine
mayors ‘politically motivated’
24 October 2006: First there was Pasay City Mayor Peewee Trinidad. An order for preventive suspension for three months was meted out by the Philippine Office of the Ombudsman based on an administrative complaint that he entered into a garbage contract for the city in gross disregard of the auditing procedure. Then there was Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay. A preventive suspension order for two months was issued by the Office of the President and implemented by the Department of Interior and Local Government. More

Democrats look forward
to victory in urban USA
17 October 2006: Campaigning for the 2006 US mid-term elections on 7 November has been overshadowed by the stream of revelations concerning Republican Representative Mark Foley’s inappropriate online liaisons with a Congressional boy page. In local races however, the national swing against the Republicans is unlikely to have any impact in the mayoralties that look likely to re-elect the Democrats in their urban heartlands. But in some cities a close finish may be likely among candidates of the same party. More

England’s few elected mayors
score highly on accountability
15 October 2006: The directly elected mayoral model has been one of the more controversial elements of England’s local government reform agenda. Enthusiasm for the model by central government was borne out of recognition that effective, high profile, and legitimate local leadership is essential to delivering high quality local public services. However critics warned that it would concentrate too much power in one person’s hands and diminish the role of other councillors. More

UK political parties debate
Britain’s local democracy
6 October 2006: The party conference season is a fixture of the UK political calendar and even prolongs Parliament’s summer break, but there are few contrasts with the party conventions in the US. While in the US party conventions take place every four years, are open to state delegates and anoint candidates for the presidency, their UK equivalents are held annually, open to almost all and instead deliberate policy. More

Edinburgh’s new leader promises
to listen over city’s transport plans
28 September 2006: After seven years at the helm, Donald Anderson stepped down as leader of the City of Edinburgh council in August 2006. He aims to contest the next set of Scottish Parliament elections in May 2007. In the meantime, new Edinburgh leader Ewan Aitken has put his predecessor in charge of culture and sport. More

Still highly popular after 14 years,
Moscow mayor looks to the future
23 September 2006: Few city mayors have billionaire wives and an independent foreign policy agenda, and even fewer elicit as much animosity and adoration as Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. He has remained the center of attention in Moscow political life for over decade, building up a legacy in politics and urban planning that is sure to outlast his mayoral tenure. And if Luzhkov’s recent moves are any indication, he is not looking to glide into a quiet retirement after 14 years in office. More

England struggles over the
concept of elected mayors
14 September 2006: English elected mayors are in the news again and for all the wrong reasons. Speculation over the contents of the much-delayed forthcoming local government white paper and whether or not it will call for more elected mayors is routinely replaced by yet another story of a council besieged by campaigners demanding a return to the old system and to ditch the mayor. For those living and working outside of British politics, the messy and inconsistent system is rightly a mystery and this City Mayors feature will explain why this is the case. More

Not red and blue but black and white
are the true colours of US elections
17 August 2006: Election Day in the United States this year is 7 November. The big question at the national level is whether the Republican Party will retain its ruling majority in the US Congress. As the candidates begin campaigning in earnest, the media have begun analyzing the mood of the electorate. The nation’s electorate is divided, pundits claim, based on values. More

California considers the future
of its most charismatic mayors
5 August 2006: If opposites attract, what of two men as similar as Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco, and Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles: bold, charismatic and young enough to aspire beyond the cities they run and reflect? The result could be a novel contest pitting the state's two marquee mayors in a fight for Californian governor. Never mind that San Francisco's Newsom and Los Angeles' Villaraigosa both disavow any thoughts of future office, insisting they are utterly consumed with their jobs at hand.

Study of Canada’s hub cities
blinkered by regional politics
3 August 2006: The Conference Board of Canada study released earlier this month ‘Canada's Hub Cities’ is an interesting exercise designed to say that the country's hub cities should get extra help to support their economies and build up their infrastructure. A worthy message, for sure. Unfortunately, the Conference Board falls victim to Canadian politics, something startling for an organization of its stature. More

Top South Korean politician pays
the price for local election defeat
1 June 2006: The chairman of the South Korean president's political party has resigned to accept responsibility for a sweeping defeat in this week's local elections. Voters overwhelmingly selected members of the main conservative opposition party to fill local authority positions, possibly dealing a serious blow to the ability of the country’s president's to advance his agenda. More

Italy’s new centre-left government
heartened by local election results
30 May 2006: While new Italian premier Romano Prodi has every reason to be cheerful at the encouraging results in the local polls held 28-29 May 2006, local factors and strong mayors could be said to have delivered the outcome. For Silvio Berlusconi, loser of the last month’s general election, the results merely compound his party’s agony. In Rome, Turin and Naples, the centre-left governing coalition achieved an increase in seats and the safe return of incumbent mayors. More

Re-elected New Orleans Mayor
promises to bring city together
22 May 2006: Appearing before cheering supporters, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin thanked them and then called for everyone in the city to come together in harmony. He said the time had come to start the healing process. He also spoke optimistically about efforts to bring the city back from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina eight months ago, using federal funds and a recovery program he defended throughout his campaign. More

Tony Blair reshuffles cabinet after
disastrous local election outcome
England’s 4 May 2006 local elections saw opposition parties claiming varying degrees of success and the governing Labour Party left to make amends following a poor showing. While the Conservative Party was able to claim the gains as vindication of the changes made to policy and campaigns under its new leader David Cameron, the failure to get a single Conservative councillor elected in large Northern cities such as Manchester and Newcastle did disappoint them. For Mr Cameron to present his party as a viable government in waiting then such urban centres are key for it to get over its image as a party of rural England. More

Socially conservative mayor appointed
Spain’s new ambassador to the Vatican
The Spanish government has appointed Francisco Vázquez, the Mayor of La Coruña, as the country’s new ambassador to the Vatican. The Mayor will take over from Jorge Dezcalla, who resigned after the death of his wife. Spain’s delegation at the Vatican is the world’s oldest permanent embassy. It was established by the catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella in 1482, ten years before the discovery of America. More

The case of a Mexico governor,
a businessman and a journalist
A case brought before Mexico’s federal courts on 13 March 2006 is set to rock the political establishment and may yet have bearing on the country’s 2006 presidential election. In February 2006 a tape recording of a very compromising phone conversation between the Governor of the Mexican state of Puebla, Mario Marín, and businessman Kamel Nacif was broadcast on national television, unleashing a wave of protest from the Puebla citizenry. More

Elected local government should
be considered again by Malaysia
In Malaysia, the deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s department, Datuk M. Kayveas, caused a furore recently when he called local authorities "secret societies" because of the lack of transparency and accountability, highlighted by public concern over mismanagement, wastage of public funds on overseas junkets under the pretext of study tours, approvals for deforestation of land causing untold damage to the environment, lack of enforcement, bribery and corruption in local townships. More

Canada’s new government must
show it cares about urban issues
For most advocates for Canada's big cities, the 2006 general election failed to turn out as they had hoped. That is because the victorious Conservatives under leader Stephen Harper are rightly regarded as being the least sympathetic of the three national parties to the needs of large urban areas. And for Harper and the Conservatives, the fact that voters in Canada’s three biggest cities - Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver - rejected every Tory candidate who dared to run within their boundaries, is a clear sign that the incoming government has much work to do in order to convince urban dwellers that it truly does care about their unique issues. More

Canada’s big cities
buck election trend
Canada’s new Conservative-led minority government will not be able to speak for a single large city, with voting patterns being touted as showing an urban-rural chasm. The results of the 23 January poll show the Conservative Party on 124 seats out of 308 in the Canadian House of Commons, short of a majority. The election, precipitated by a damning report concerning government sleaze, means that Canada’s new union of Conservative parties under Stephen Harper will be invited to form a government by Governor General Michaelle Jean. More

Third year in office will be crucial
for popular San Francisco Mayor
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom came into office in January 2004 as a young businessman-turned-politician eager to put his imprint on city government by promising to be a different kind of leader who 'isn't afraid to solve even the toughest problem’. In his inaugural address, the new Mayor even provided a checklist of the problems he vowed to tackle. Halfway through his first term, he can show progress in some areas. But there has been backsliding in other areas and, in some cases, inattention. More

End of ceasefire creates fear
in Nepal’s towns and villages
Human rights activists and development workers in Nepal warn that a further increase in violence in the country may place more civilians at risk and jeapardise development work. The situation in both the villages and cities has been one of fear and increasing insecurity since the Maoists called off their four-month long unilateral ceasefire on 2 January 2006 after the government, led by King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, failed to respond to their offer of peace, they maintain. More

Philippines' proposals to cancel 2007
elections come under fierce criticism
A former president, parliamentarians and community leaders have come out in opposition to plans that elections, due in the Philippines in 2007, should be postponed until 2010. The recommendations are part of the 121-page report submitted by the country’s Consultative Commission (ConCom) to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Commission was set up by the President to put forward proposals to change Philippines political structure from a presidential system to a parliamentary one. Under the report’s proposals, 2007 elections, including those of city mayors, would be cancelled. More

Question over EU voting rights adds to dispute
between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar status
A case brought by the government of Spain against the UK concerning the voting rights of the City of Gibraltar in European Parliamentary elections could adversely affect the future ability of Commonwealth citizens to vote in British elections. Spain argues that the 2003 decision to allow citizens of the tiny British overseas territory on its mainland to vote in Euro elections is against EU rules and has called on the European Court of Justice to arbitrate in the dispute. The case is only one of many disagreements between the two governments over the future of the city, which was ceded to the UK by treaty in 1713. More

Strong gains for main opposition
in Tokyo metropolitan elections
Japan’s main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) exceeded its own modest targets and took a record number of seats in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly elections on 3 July 2005. The losses are being interpreted as a wake-up call for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government of Junichiro Koizumi and have been said to represent the consolidation of the two party system in Japan. More

After his landslide victory new LA Mayor
will have to live up to high expectations
Antonio Villaraigosa's landslide victory on 17 May 2005 over Los Angeles incumbent Mayor James Hahn has raised hopes about moving the city in a new direction. It was a personal victory for Mr Villaraigosa - a high school drop-out who later graduated, became an organizer with the teachers union and served as Speaker of the State Assembly and City Council member - whose election immediately made him a national figure, including his photo on the cover of Newsweek, headlined ‘Latino Power’. More

Women vastly underrepresented
in Middle East local government
The International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) reports that the Middle East had the lowest representation of women in local government of all the world regions, with cultural, religious and, in some cases, legal barriers to women’s participation in politics. Key priorities for IULA’s Global Programme are therefore developing partnerships and alliances in the region, establishing a network of local elected women and an awareness building. More

South American cities spearhead
development of direct democracy
At a time when many ordinary people in nominally democratic countries feel themselves bereft, in practice if not in theory, of influence in the political processes of their communities, cities in Europe and South America are seeking to rediscover the meaning of local democracy together through an organisation called the Observatori Internacional de la Democracia Participativa (OIDP), the literal translation into English of which is International Observatory of Participatory Democracy. More