MAYORS & POLITICS World Mayors, their parties and politics By Andrew Stevens and Brian Baker, City Mayors Fellows  ON THIS PAGE: Introduction | Gender & politics | International networks | Political internationals | Table: Top 60 cities and their mayors | International associations | Research | Contact & searchON OTHER PAGES: Mayors @ City Mayors | Politics @ City Mayors | Local government @ City Mayors WORLD MAYOR 2023: The 2023 World Mayor Prize is dedicated to Friendship between Cities. The Honours will be awarded to mayors and cities that have made outstanding contributions to friendship, partnership and cooperation between towns and cities at home and across borders. PLEASE ELECT YOUR CANDIDATES Introduction July 2023*: Even after a reassertion of the nation-state amid multiple global crises, policy interest in city mayors and their impact on most people’s lives remains undiminished, with planetary urbanisation as a megatrend continuing apace. It is well understood that by 2050 over two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities, with a city the size of Stockholm added to the planet each week. But who even gets to govern the actual City of Stockholm and how? In this occasional survey (2009, 2011, 2014, 2018 and now 2023), City Mayors examines the impact of partisan politics on how city leaders are chosen in the world’s largest cities and what trends have emerged over this period. As with previous surveys, we have assessed what political characteristics, if any, are shared across the mayors of the 60 world’s largest cities. For the latest survey, we found that: • Most of the mayors listed were elected in the 2020s, with only three mayors serving since the first decade of this century • Less than half the world’s leading city mayors are female, though they are well-represented among capital cities • Of the 60 mayors listed, only 13 were elected from the centre-right, with left and centre mayors as the mainstream, though Africa and Asia elect fewer progressives • Almost one-third of mayors listed had served at national level prior to their election Gender and politics On the whole, although just short of half (24 of 60) of the mayors on our list are women, they are well-represented among the world’s leading capitals, with the US, Japan, France, India, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, the Philippines and Sierra Leone all being led by female mayors. Following the departure of Toronto’s John Tory (elected less than a decade ago in 2014) in early 2023, most big city mayors across the Americas were mainly elected in 2022 or 2021. A similar picture emerges in all other regions, with a number of European veteran mayors bowing out since the last survey in 2018 and only Sydney (2004), Zurich and Rotterdam (2009) as the main holdouts from the noughties. Of the mayors listed, several can be considered ‘retreads’, as Karin Wanngård returned to Stockholm City Hall in 2022, having previously served as mayor between 2014 and 2018, while Rio de Janeiro’s Eduardo Paes also returned to the City Palace in 2021, after his previous stint between 2009 and 2016 (both defeating one-term incumbents who had ousted them). Oh Se-hoon returned as head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2021, having previously served two terms from 2006 to 2011. In contrast to our last survey, we have listed the mayors by their political hue according to their overall politics rather than cumbersome and often contradictory definitions on the political spectrum - for instance, many US mayors can be considered more progressive than their centrist counterparts at national level. In the main and as has been noted in other studies more recently, European big city mayors tend towards social democrats, with few exceptions (Athens, Helsinki and Madrid), with an increased showing of Greens (who would be expected to be considered progressive in their politics as well as their environmental focus). Greens have also broken through in Bogotá, Colombia and Wellington, New Zealand (the latter's Tory Whanau had worked for the Greens in Parliament but was elected as an Independent with their support). The list also includes an increased number of city-based parties, with Vancouver, Canada and Auckland, New Zealand both electing business-friendly mayors representing ‘better government’ coalitions. This has also been observed in both Tokyo and Osaka over the past decade where regional reformist parties have come to the fore (both breakaways from the ruling centre-right party nationally). Genuine independents are in fact few and far between, Jakarta’s Independent Governor is currently acting up in absence of the elected city chief and others elected as independents previously held memberships or associations with political parties in some capacity (Bangkok, Melbourne and Tokyo). It is perhaps worth noting that in spite of mayoral governance appealing to politicians wanting to ‘get things done’ and act outside of the constraints of national legislatures, 25 mayors (out of the 60 listed) belong to the ruling party of their respective national government (for instance the six mayors belonging to US President Biden’s Democrats). A further 19 mayors had held national office (either serving in a legislature or as a government minister) prior to their election as mayor, with Tokyo’s Yuriko Koike serving in a number of cabinet posts (and parties) prior to becoming governor, while London’s Sadiq Khan attended Cabinet as a junior minister before seeking the capital’s mayoralty for the UK Labour Party in 2016. Amsterdam’s Femke Halsema had sat in the Dutch parliament and led its Green Party for a decade, with Rotterdam’s Ahmed Aboutaleb also serving in the Cabinet as State Secretary for Social Affairs. In a number of cases, this could in fact be seen as fairly unavoidable and unremarkable, for instance, the mayors of Beijing and Shanghai both belong to the Chinese Communist Party in its de facto one-party state. Most notably, however, the mayors of Ankara and Istanbul are both members of the Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party and have been subject to severe sanctions by its ruling conservative AK Party government. A number of mayors listed in our 2023 survey sit in an acting capacity, either as deputies acting up on a temporary basis in absence of an elected mayor (Beijing, Jakarta and Toronto) or have appointed non-partisan administrators until elections can be held (Mumbai). Prior to his 2019 city-wide election, Saint Petersburg’s Alexander Beglov was appointed as acting governor by President Putin in 2018. In 2022 Bangkok elected its first city chief since 2016, Chadchart Sittipunt, after the partial restoration of democracy to the capital (following the national imposition of military rule in 2014). Finally, of the 60 listed, 38 mayors owe their office to direct election by citizens, with the remainder appointed from within city councils. Direct election is evident across the Americas, whereas in Europe two-thirds of city leaders are chosen indirectly by their fellow city councillors, particularly in the Benelux and Scandinavian countries but also France and Spain. International networks Outside of the data shown below, we have also mapped the participation of the mayors listed among international city networks. As the primary global city network for local climate diplomacy, the C40 Group counts not only the Mayor of London as its Chair, but also the mayors of Freetown, Barcelona, Oslo, Tokyo, Seoul, Buenos Aires and Bogotá as Vice Chairs. Mayor López of Bogotá is also Vice President of Metropolis and the United Cities and Local Governments organisation, which also includes the mayors of Barcelona and Paris as special representatives. Seoul’s mayor also sits on the Global Executive of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, while the mayors of Amsterdam, Brussels and Cape Town act as mayoral representatives on the standing Global Parliament of Mayors. Political internationals In contrast to previous editions of the survey, a number of mayors now belong to political parties represented by international associations. This is mainly due to the increase of Green Party mayors globally as their parties all belong to the Global Greens international. As social democrat mayors continue to dominate Europe's capital cities, they represent a similar showing for the Progressive Alliance, which has since eclipsed the Socialist International for member parties shown here. The conservative International Democrat Union now has only three city mayors in membership at this level, in Athens, Madrid and Seoul, while the far-left official/state communist grouping the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties counts not only Beijing and Shanghai but also Santiago, Chile among its mayors’ parties. World's top cities: Their mayors, parties and politics
International associations Centrist Democrat International (CDI) – centre-right and Christian democrat parties Global Greens - green and ecology parties International Democrat Union (IDU) – conservative parties International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties (IMCWP) - communist parties of the far left Liberal International (LI) – centrist and liberal parties Progressive Alliance (PA) and Socialist International (SI) – socialist and social democratic parties *The research was carried out in January and February 2023. The introduction was published in March. Introduction and table were updated in June and July 2023. © Copyright: All content of the City Mayors and World Mayor websites are protected by worldwide copyright. Please contact the editor if you wish to use any material from the City Mayors, World Mayor or Women Mayors websites. Follow @City_Mayors |
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