City Mayors: Czech mayors and local government

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MAYORS OF THE MONTH
In 2015
Mayor of Seoul, South Korea (04/2015)
Mayor of Rotterdam, Netherlands (03/2015)
Mayor of Houston, USA, (02/2015)
Mayor of Pristina, Kosovo (01/2015)

In 2014
Mayor of Warsaw, Poland, (12/2014)
Governor of Tokyo, Japan, (11/2014)
Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand (10/2014)
Mayor of Sucre, Miranda, Venezuela (09/2014)
Mayor of Vienna, Austria (08/2014)
Mayor of Lampedusa, Italy (07/2014)
Mayor of Ghent, Belgium (06/2014)
Mayor of Montería, Colombia (05/2014)
Mayor of Liverpool, UK (04/2014)
Mayor of Pittsford Village, NY, USA (03/2014)
Mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia (02/2014)
Mayor of Santiago, Chile (01/2014)

In 2013
Mayor of Soda, India (12/2013)
Mayor of Zaragoza (11/2013)
Mayor of Marseille (10/2013)
Mayor of Schwäbisch Gmünd (09/2013)
Mayor of Detroit (08/2013)
Mayor of Moore (07/2013)
Mayor of Mexico City (06/2013)
Mayor of Cape Town (05/2013)
Mayor of Lima (04/2013)
Mayor of Salerno (03/2013)
Governor of Jakarta (02/2013)
Mayor of Rio de Janeiro (01/2013)

In 2012
Mayor of Izmir (12/2012)
Mayor of San Antonio (11/2012)
Mayor of Thessaloniki (10/2012)
Mayor of London (09/2012)
Mayor of New York (08/2012)
Mayor of Bilbao (07/2012)
Mayor of Bogotá (06/2012)
Mayor of Perth (05/2012)
Mayor of Mazatlán (04/2012)
Mayor of Tel Aviv (03/2012)
Mayor of Surrey (02/2012)
Mayor of Osaka (01/2012)

In 2011
Mayor of Ljubljana (12/2011)

World Mayor 2014

Mayors and local government in the Czech Republic
Researched and edited by Matej Trávnícek
with contributions by Karel Lacina and Zdena Vajdova

18 January 2012: In the Czech Republic members of municipal councils are directly elected using a proportional electoral system. Every citizen of the Czech Republic over eighteen years of age has the right to vote and to run for municipal office. The term of a municipal council is four years. Mayors are elected by and responsible to their councils.

• Councillors
• Municipal councils
• Municipal boards
• Municipal offices
• Mayors

Councillors
The number of councillors in each municipality is proportionate to its population:
• up to 500 inhabitants—five to fifteen councillors;
• from 501 to 3,000 inhabitants—seven to fifteen councillors;
• from 3,001 to 10,000 inhabitants—eleven to twenty-five councillors;
• from 10,001 to 50,000 inhabitants—fifteen to thirty-five councillors;
• from 50,001 to 150,000 inhabitants—twenty-five to forty-five councillors;
• over 150,000 inhabitants—thirty-five to fifty-five councillors.
Each municipal council determines the exact number of its councillors.

Electoral parties, which register candidate lists for local elections, are defined by law as:
• political parties and political movements;
• coalitions of political parties and political movements;
• independent candidates;
• unions of independent candidates;
• unions of political parties or political movements and independent candidates .
Voters may choose to vote for a list of candidates or for individual candidates from any list that has been submitted.

Municipal councils
The municipal council is the highest authority of the first tier of local government. It is a representative body elected directly by citizens of the municipality. Each municipal council is comprised of five to fifty-five councillors proportionate to the number of inhabitants of the municipality. Its decision-making authority is limited to issues that are within its independent competence.

The council exercises its authority through council meetings, which must be held at least once every three month; such sessions are open to the public. The municipal council establishes its own rules of procedure.

Municipal boards
The municipal board is the executive body responsible to the council. Its membership—five to eleven persons—includes the mayor, deputy mayor(s) and other members who are elected by the council from among its members. The mayor calls municipal board meetings when necessary and is responsible for preparing documents for board discussion. Board meetings are closed to the public, but the minutes of its meetings are public documents. The council has the right to dismiss the board.

The mayor is elected by and responsible to the council, chairs the municipal board, heads the municipal office and is chief of the municipal police. In small municipalities where a board is not elected, the mayor performs the duties of the board; where the position of chief administrative officer is not established, the mayor performs these functions as well.

The municipal board as well as municipal council establishe committees. Membership is approved by the board or by the council (it depends whether it is a committee of the council or the committee of the board) and is not limited to council members but may include any citizen of the municipality. Financial and Control committees are obligatory for every municipality and are responsible to the council. In municipalities where more than 10 per cent of citizens are not Czech nationals, a Committee for ethnic minorities is obligatory and responsible to the council as well. The committees of the council must be chaired by a councillor (with exception of parish committees), the committees of the board must be chaired by a person professionally qualified in the field of committee interest. Upon approval of the district office, the mayor may invest duties of transferred competence to committees, which are then subordinate to the district office.

Municipal offices
The municipal office is the executive administrative body of the municipality, headed by the mayor and including the deputy mayor(s), chief administrative officer and other officers. It implements independent competencies assigned by the municipal board and council as well as delegated functions of the state administration, for which it is subordinate to the district office. The position of chief administrative officer (CAO) exists in municipalities in which the board establishes at least two departments within the municipal office.

The municipal board appoints the CAO upon approval of the district office chief; he or she cannot be a councillor. The CAO is responsible to the municipal board and the mayor concerning the execution of duties of independent competence and to the mayor concerning duties of transferred competence. The CAO has the right to attend council and board meetings as an advisor.

Mayors of the largest Czech cities

City, size	Mayor	Elections	Profile
Prague Popl: 1,300,995	Bohuslav Svoboda; (Mr)	Elected 2010; Next Elections 2014	Born 1944; 1992-1998 President Czech Medical Chamber; 1900-present Head of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University in Prague and Faculty Hospital Královské Vinohrady; 2003-2010 Dean 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University in Prague; Party: ODS*
Brno Popl: 454,337	Roman Onderka; (Mr)	Elected 2006, 2010; Next Elections 2014	Born 1965; trade union officer; Party: CSSD
Ostrava Popl: 314,590	Petr Kajnar; (Mr)	Elected 2006, 2010; Next Elections 2014	Born 1956; manager; 2002-2006 Deputy Mayor of Ostrava; Party: CSSD*
Plzen Popl: 177,936	Martin Baxa; (Mr)	Elected 2010; Next Elections 2014	Born 1975; teacher; 2004-2008 Regional government councilor of Pleznsky kraj : ODS*
Liberec Popl: 105,229	Martina Rosenbergová; (Mrs)	Elected 2011; Next Elections 2014	Born 1966; clerk; 2010-2011 Deputy Mayor of Liberec; Party: CSSD*
Olomouc Popl: 102,134	Martin Novotny; (Mr)	Elected 2006, 2010; Next Elections 2014	Born 1972; 2000-2001 Vice Chairman of Young Conservatives; Party: ODS*
Ústí nad Labem Popl: 100,884	Vít Mandík; (Mr)	Elected 2010; Next Elections 2014	Born 1968; businessman; Party: CSSD*
Hradec Králové Popl: 100,090	Zdenek Fink; (Mr)	Elected 2010; Next Elections 2014	Born 1955; doctor; Party: non-partisan
Ceské Budejovice Popl: 95,709	Juraj Thoma; (Mr)	Elected 2006, 2010; Next Elections 2014	Born 1969; archeologist; 2002-2006 Deputy Mayor; Party: OPB
Pardubice Popl: 90,755	Stepánka Franková; (Mrs)	Elected 2010; Next Elections 2014	Born 1965; doctor; 2007-2010 Deputy Mayor; 2010 Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament; Party: SNK-ED

* ODS: Obcanská demokratická strana (Civic Democratic Party); CSSD: Ceská strana sociálne demokratická (Czech Social Democratic Party); OBP: Obcané pro Budejovice (Citizens for Budejovice); SNK-ED: SNK Evropstí demokraté (SNK European Democrats)

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Mayors and local government in the Czech Republic Researched and edited by Matej Trávnícek with contributions by Karel Lacina and Zdena Vajdova

Mayors and local government in the Czech Republic
Researched and edited by Matej Trávnícek
with contributions by Karel Lacina and Zdena Vajdova