- Ayuntamiento
"For a discussion of the historic" ayuntamiento, "see
Cabildo (council) .""Ayuntamiento" is the general term for the council of a
municipality , or sometimes the municipality itself, inSpain andLatin America . Historically "Ayuntamiento" was often preceded by the word "excelentísimo" (English: "most excellent"), when referring to the council. This phrase is often abbreviated "Exc.mo Ay.to"In the Catalan speaking parts of Spain, municipalities generally use the Catalan cognate, "Ajuntament", whereas in the Galician ones it is used the word "Concello". "Ayuntamiento" is mainly used in
Spain ; inLatin America "Alcaldía" is also used to describe municipal governing bodies, especially the executive ones, where the legislative body and an executive one are two separate entities.In Latin America several terms exist for the legislative bodies of municipalities. The term "consejo" is used in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru. In Mexico the term "ayuntamiento" is used to describe the council. Puerto Rican municipalities have a "Legislatura Municipal" . Executive functions in most of these countries is handled by an executive "alcalde" (not to be confused with the historic "
alcalde ", who was a magistrate).ee also
*
Cabildo (council) , a historic synonym of "ayuntamiento".
*Municipio
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