 Amman is governed by a 41-member city council elected in five-year term direct elections. All Jordanian citizens above 18 years old are eligible to vote in the municipal elections. However, the mayor is appointed by the king and not through elections. In 1909 a city council was established in Amman by Circassian Ismael Babouk who became the first ever Mayor of the capital, and in 1914 Amman's first city district centre was founded.
