# Bilbao City Council

The Bilbao City Council (Basque: Bilboko Udala) is the ayuntamiento of Bilbao (Spain). Its headquarter, the Bilbao City Hall, is located in the Ernesto Erkoreka Plaza. The city council is made up of an executive body and a normative municipal plenary. The executive body consists of the mayor and the Governing Junta of the Town of Bilbao (Spanish: Junta de Gobierno de la Villa de Bilbao). The council performs executive and administrative tasks, and functions in correspondence with the mayor. The junta consists of no more than nine people, its members can be appointed by the mayor.

## Municipal administration

The constituent is elected every four years by universal suffrage. The electoral census is made up of all registered residents in Bilbao over the age of 18 as well as nationals of Spain and other member states of the European Union. According to the General Electoral Regime Law (Spanish: Ley del Régimen Electoral General), the number of eligible councilors is based on the population of the municipality.
The municipal plenary serves to represent the citizenry in the municipal government. It is responsible for the debate and adoption of government policies including: regulations, laws, municipal budgets, urban planning plans, service management, etc. The plenary is made up of 29 councilors and is chaired by the mayor.

### Mayoralty

These are the mayors who have governed the city council since 1979:
| Mayors of Bilbao | From | To | Party |
| Jon Castañares Larreategui | 19 April 1979 | 22 May 1983 | EAJ-PNV |
| José Luis Robles Canibe | 23 May 1983 | 19 July 1987 | EAJ-PNV |
| José María Gorordo | 20 July 1987 | 17 December 1990 | EAJ-PNV |
| Jesús María Duñabeitia | 20 December 1990 | 14 June 1991 | EAJ-PNV |
| Josu Ortuondo Larrea | 17 June 1991 | 2 July 1999 | EAJ-PNV |
| Iñaki Azkuna Urreta | 3 July 1999 | 20 March 2014 | EAJ-PNV |
| Ibon Areso Mendiguren | 21 March 2014 | 12 June 2015 | EAJ-PNV |
| Juan María Aburto Rike | 13 June 2015 | Incumbent | EAJ-PNV |
The mayor who has held office for the longest time since democracy has been Iñaki Azkuna (14 years) of the Basque Nationalist Party, a position he held from the 1999 elections until his death in 2014, reelected in 2003, 2007 and 2011. Previously, the other mayors who held office for the longest time were Joaquín Zuazagoitia Azcorra (16 years), Josu Ortuondo Larrea (8 years), Pilar Careaga Basabe (6 years), and Federico Moyúa Salazar (6 years).

### Electoral results

| Elections | 1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1995 | 1999 | 2003 | 2007 | 2011 | 2015 | 2019 |
| Political party | Mayor | Mayor | Mayor | Mayor | Mayor | Mayor | Mayor | Mayor | Mayor | Mayor | Mayor |
| EAJ-PNV | 13 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 14 |
| PSE-EE / PSOE | 4 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| EH Bildu / Bildu | | | | | | | | | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| EP / Udalberri | | | | | | | | | | 2 | 3 |
| PP / AP / CP | | 4 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Ganemos | | | | | | | | | | 2 | — |
| IU-EB | | | — | — | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | — | | |
| EA | | | 3 | 2 | — | 1 | 2 | — | | | |
| EH / HB | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | | | | | |
| ICV-EHE | | | | | 5 | 2 | | | | | |
| EE | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | | | | | | | |
| UCD | 5 | | | | | | | | | | |

### Political groups

The councillors form political groups, which are distributed according to their aligned ideologies in the 2019 municipal elections:
Current distribution of the Bilbao City Council :
| EAJ-PNV: 14 PSE-EE: 5 EH Bildu: 4 Elkarrekin Podemos: 3 PP: 3 |||||
| Candidacy | List | Votes | % | Mayor |
| Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea-Partido Nacionalista Vasco (EAJ-PNV) | Juan María Aburto Rike | 71.822 | 42,69 | 14 |
| Partido Socialista de Euskadi-Euskadiko Ezkerra (PSE-EE) | Alfonso Gil Invernón | 26.783 | 15,92 | 5 |
| Euskal Herria Bildu (EH Bildu) | Jone Goirizelaia Ordorika | 25.138 | 14,94 | 4 |
| Elkarrekin Podemos | Ana Viñals Blanco | 17.661 | 10,50 | 3 |
| Partido Popular (PP) | Raquel González Díez-Andino | 15.441 | 9,18 | 3 |

## Municipal areas and entities served

| Areas Circulation & Transport Urbanism & Environment Culture & Education Works & Services Human Resources Safety Citizen Relation Social action Economy & Tax Tourism & Party Euskera Equality & Cooperation Employment, Youth & Sport Health & Consumption Participation & District Councils Public spaces | Entities Azkuna Zentroa: Cultural and sports center. Surbisa: Municipal agency for urban rehabilitation. Municipal Housing: Municipal housing service. Artxanda Funicular: Means of transportation to Mount Archanda. Cimubisa: Municipal computer service. Lan Ekintza Bilbao: Municipal agency for economic promotion. Bilbao Kirolak: Society for the management of sports activities, facilities and services. Teatro Arriaga: Municipal theater. Bilbao Musika: Organization that manages the Municipal School of Music, the Municipal Band of Txistularis and the Municipal Band of Music of Bilbao. Bilbao Arte: Foundation for the promotion of art. Bilbao Servicios: Manages municipal markets and funeral services. |

## International recognition

The annual reports by Transparency International pointed out in 2008, 2009, and 2010, that the City Council was the most "transparent" in Spain in terms of institutional communication, citizen relations, services, public works, and the economy.
In 2010, Bilbao was awarded the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, in recognition of the City Council's leadership.