Editing Politics of Spain (section)

== Local government ==
{{See also|Political divisions of Spain}}

[[Local government in Spain|Local government]] refers to the government and administration of what the constitution calls "local entities", which are primarily municipalities, but also groups of municipalities including [[Provinces of Spain|provinces]], metropolitan areas, [[Comarcas of Spain|comarcas]] and [[mancomunidad]]es and sub-municipal groups known as [[Minor local entity|Minor local entities]] ({{langx|es|Entidad de Ámbito Territorial Inferior al Municipio}}).{{sfn|Local Government Act|1985|loc=Articles 40-44}}{{sfn|MPA||loc=paragraph 4}} The administration of these entities is mostly provided by a council.

The constitution recognises a degree of autonomy for the [[municipalities of Spain|municipalities]] and the [[provinces of Spain]] (groupings of municipalities) but in practice central and regional governments continue to supervise the legality of local governments' acts, and their decisions can still be suspended.{{sfn|Canel|1994|p=52}}

For various reasons, local government is heterogeneous, is distributed evenly across the nation{{Sfn|Cools|Verbeek|2013|loc=Explanatory Memorandum paragraph 12 on page 7}} and involves duplication of services.{{Sfn| Cools| Verbeek| 2013|loc=Recommendation 336 (2013) paragraph 5(c)}}