Editing Melilla (section)

=== Self-government institutions ===
{{See also|List of Mayor-Presidents of Melilla}}
[[File:Ayuntamiento de Melilla.jpg|thumb|Palace of the Assembly of Melilla]]
The government bodies stipulated in the Statute of Autonomy are the [[Assembly of Melilla]], the [[President of Melilla]] and the Council of Government. The assembly is a 25-member body whose members are elected through universal suffrage every 4 years in [[Closed list|closed party lists]] following the schedule of local elections at the national level. Its members are called "local [[Deputy (legislator)|deputies]]" but they rather enjoy the status of ''[[Local councillor|concejales]]'' (municipal councillors).{{Sfn|Márquez Cruz|2003|pp=10–11}} Unlike [[List of Spanish regional legislatures|regional legislatures]] (and akin to municipal councils), the assembly does not enjoy [[Right of initiative (legislative)|right of initiative]] for primary legislation.{{Sfn|Márquez Cruz|2003|p=11}}

The president of Melilla (who, often addressed as Mayor-President, also exerts the roles of Mayor, president of the Assembly, president of the Council of Government and representative of the city){{Sfn|Márquez Cruz|2003|p=12}} is invested by the Assembly. After local elections, the president is invested through a [[qualified majority]] from among the leaders of the election lists, or, failing to achieve the former, the leader of the most voted list at the election is invested to the office.{{Sfn|Márquez Cruz|2003|pp=14}} In case of a [[motion of no confidence]] the president can only be ousted with a qualified majority voting for an alternative assembly member.{{Sfn|Márquez Cruz|2003|pp=14}}

The Council of Government is the traditional collegiate executive body for [[parliamentary system]]s. Unlike the municipal government boards in the standard [[ayuntamiento (Spain)|''ayuntamientos'']], the members of the Council of Government (including the vice-presidents) do not need to be members of the assembly.{{Sfn|Márquez Cruz|2003|pp=12–13}}

Melilla is the city in Spain with the highest proportion of [[postal voting]];<ref name=bautista /> [[Electoral fraud#Vote buying|vote buying]] (via mail-in ballots) is widely reported to be a common practice in the poor neighborhoods of Melilla.<ref name=bautista>{{Cite web|url=https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2019-05-06/melilla-vice-votos-corrupcion_1976146/|website=[[El Confidencial]]|title=Se compran votos por 50 euros|first=José|last=Bautista|date=6 May 2019}}</ref> Court cases in this matter had involved the PP, the CPM and the PSOE.<ref name=bautista />

On 15 June 2019, following the [[2019 Melilla Assembly election|May 2019 Melilla Assembly election]], the regionalist and left-leaning party of Muslim and Amazigh persuasion [[Coalition for Melilla]] (CPM, 8 seats), the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]] (PSOE, 4 seats) and [[Citizens (Spanish political party)|Citizens–Party of the Citizenry]] (Cs, 1 seat) voted in favour of the Cs' candidate ([[Eduardo de Castro]]) as the Presidency of the Autonomous City,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://resultados.elpais.com/elecciones/2019/municipales/19/52/01.html |title=Resultados Electorales en Melilla: Elecciones Municipales 2019 en EL PAÍS |publisher=Resultados.elpais.com |newspaper=[[El País]]|access-date=15 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Alba|first1=Nicolás|url=https://www.elmundo.es/espana/2019/06/15/5d04d1c3fc6c833b568b46a6.html |title=El único diputado de Ciudadanos consigue la presidencia de Melilla tras 19 años de Gobierno del PP |newspaper=[[El Mundo (Spain)|El Mundo]] |date=15 June 2019 |access-date=15 June 2019}}</ref> ousting [[Juan José Imbroda]], from the [[People's Party (Spain)|People's Party]] (PP, 10 seats), who had been in office since 2000.

Melilla also maintains a local police force known as Policia Local de Melilla (Ciudad Autonoma de Melilla - Policia Local).