GOLD Report I - UCLG

LATIN AMERICA190United Cities and Local GovernmentsIn recent years,the great LatinAmericanmetropolises havedriven processesof partialdecentralizationor deconcentrationinto delegations51. In Paraguay thereare 13,250municipalemployees (7.7%of the publicworkforce), halfconcentrated in thecity of Asunción(6,500 employees).In Nicaragua, thenumber ofmunicipalemployees rose to8,648 in 2000;31% of them workin Managua.In most countries, public employees are subjectto national workers legislation and a specialemployment status for public or municipalemployees, although these practices arerarely applied in practice. Unfortunately, themajority of these countries does not possessprecise statistical data on public employees.In theory, in the majority of countries, subnationalgovernment officials and employeesare covered by the national work law and bystatute as public or municipal employees.However, in practice this is rarely fulfilled.Regrettably, most countries lack precise statisticsabout personnel in the intermediategovernments and municipalities 51 .IV. Local democracyIV.1. Local electoral regimesWith regard to municipal government, theterms cabildo, town council, council or municipalcorporation are used, with differentnational nuances. In most cases the municipalinstitution is made up of: the mayor, intendente,síndico (trustee), municipal president orprefeito (prefect), who presides over it, representsit and is in charge of the administration.The concejales, regidores or vereadores (towncouncilors) act as a legislative body, althoughat times they receive specific commissions.Direct election of mayors predominates in theregion, generally through a majority system,on different dates from those designated forthe national elections (Chile, Ecuador, Argentina,Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Dominican Republic,El Salvador, Nicaragua). In the federalcountries, local elections tend to coincide withthe provincial or state elections (Argentina,Brazil, Mexico). In Bolivia, the mayor is electedindirectly from among the members ofthe Municipal Council who are elected bydirect universal suffrage. Recently, themethod of election has changed from indirectto direct in Chile (2001), Costa Rica (2002),Nicaragua (1995), and República Bolivarianade Venezuela (1989). For the town councilors,proportional representation or the mixed systemsare regularly established (example: singlenames and lists in República Bolivarianade Venezuela). The specifics observed in differentcountries are influenced by respectivenorms and traditional customs.The duration of the mandate of mayors andrepresentative councilors varies from countryto country. The majority tend to have mandatesof four years (Central American countries,Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, DominicanRepublic, República Bolivariana de Venezuela),but there are also some with three-yearterms (Mexico), two and a half (Cuba), andfive-year terms (Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguayand Panama). Re-election of the mayorand councilors is usually allowed, except inMexico and Colombia where re-election tooffice is prohibited.The municipalities of each nation possess theirown territorial division, with sub-municipalentities with different names. Such entities arebeginning to be granted greater participation,and direct election of municipal authorities isnow taking place in various countries. Promisingresults have been observed in the corregimientosof Panama; in the NeighborhoodAssociations’ legal status and election throughdirect suffrage in Chile; with the Juntas Vecinales(neighborhood associations) in Bolivia; theJuntas Parroquiales electas (elected parishassociations) in Ecuador, which were brieflyinterrupted in 1980; the elected auxiliary presidenciesof Tlaxcala and the municipal communitiesof Tabasco, in Mexico.In recent years, the great Latin Americanmetropolises have driven processes of partialdecentralization (18 community centres inMontevideo and 15 communes in BuenosAires) or deconcentration into delegations,sub-mayoral areas or sub-prefectures (16 inMexico City, 31 in São Paulo). In Mexico City,the delegation chiefs are elected by directvote; in Buenos Aires community councilorsare to be elected for the first time in 2007.In the unitary countries, the process of electingintermediate government authorities hasbeen slow. In 2004, only half of the de-