Krakow’s Local Government
Poland has three-tier
local government: province ‘wojewodztwo’,
county ‘powiat’, and commune ‘gmina’;
each level with its own representative council
and an executive.
Krakow
is the capital
of the Malopolska wojewodztwo, one of
the most prominent provinces among the
country’s 16.
As
in the case of other major Polish cities, Krakow’s local
government is county and commune rolled into one municipality.
The legislative City Council consists of 43 members chosen in
popular ballot by way of proportional representation. The
executive power lies with mayor (called ‘prezydent’)
elected by citizens in a two-tier majority vote. Both the city
council and the mayor serve four-year terms.
The
city's current powers
In 2002 Krakow's citizens
chose Professor Jacek Majchrowski as their first mayor ever
voted in by popular ballot. In November 2006 and in
December 2010 they
elected him for his second and third terms in the office
respectively.
Two
Poland's biggest political parties passed the five-percent threshold in the latest
local election in Krakow on November 21st, 2010 and have got representatives
in the City Council. The centrist Civic Platform (Platforma
Obywatelska, PO) won the majority of 24 seats while its
arch-rival, the right-wing Law and
Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc, PiS), claimed 12 councilors.
The remaining seven seats have gone to the independent ticket
formed by the incumbent mayor Jacek Majchrowski.
The Krakow
municipality has its headquarters in the city's Old Town historic district,
in the 16-century Renaissance Wielopolskich
Palace, adjoining the basilica of St. Francis'.
Office
address of the City President (mayor) as well as the City Council
is: 3/4 Wszystkich Swietych Pl.
Postal address: Urzad Miasta Krakowa, Pl. Wszystkich
Swietych 3/4, 31-004 Krakow, Poland.
Telephone number of the mayor's office is (+48)
126161398 and (+48) 126161350.
Mayor's
email address is Jacek.Majchrowski@um.krakow.pl
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