Editing Warsaw (section)

===Municipal government===
{{see also|Warsaw City Council|List of city mayors of Warsaw}}
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[[File:Pałac Komisji Rządowej Przychodów i Skarbu w Warszawie 2018.jpg|thumb|right|[[Palace of the Ministry of Revenues and Treasury|Commission Palace]] at [[Bank Square, Warsaw|Bank Square]]. It serves as the official [[city hall]] as well as the seat of the [[Mayor of Warsaw]].]]
[[File:Warsaw Presidential Palace (22248p).jpg|thumb|right|[[Presidential Palace, Warsaw|Presidential Palace]] is the official seat of the [[President of Poland]].]]

The first city mayor of Warsaw was Jan Andrzej Menich (1695–1696).<ref name=Petrozolin/> The municipal self-government existed in Warsaw until World War II and was restored in 1990 (during the communist times, the National City Council&nbsp;– ''Miejska Rada Narodowa''&nbsp;– governed in Warsaw). Since 1990, the structure of city government has been modified several times.<ref name="admin">{{cite web |url=http://e-warsaw.pl/2/index.php?id=568 |title=Administration |work=e-warsaw.pl |access-date=31 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218181549/http://e-warsaw.pl/2/index.php?id=568 |archive-date=18 December 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Between 1975 and 1990 the Warsaw city mayors simultaneously led the [[Warsaw Voivodeship (1975-1998)|Warsaw Voivodeship]]. In the years 1990–1994, the city mayor of Warsaw was elected by the [[city council]].<ref name="djordjevic"/>

A controversial reform was introduced in 1994, which transformed the city into a loose municipal union of several gminas, dominated by one of them, the gmina Centrum encompassing the entire inner city. During this period, the mayor of gmina Centrum who was elected by its council was automatically designated as the city mayor of Warsaw, in spite of representing only a fraction of the population of the city. The city was becoming increasingly unmanageable, especially after the administrative reform of Poland in 1999 which further complicated the local government structure of Warsaw. In 2002, the new ''Warsaw Act'' of the Polish parliament restored Warsaw as a single urban gmina with the status of a city with powiat rights, led by a unified local government. At the same time, a significant reform was implemented in all Polish municipal governments, introducing direct elections of the wójt/town mayor/city mayor in all Polish gminas.<ref name="djordjevic"/> The first city mayor of Warsaw elected according to these rules was [[Lech Kaczyński]], who however resigned ahead of term when he was elected [[President of Poland|President of Polish Republic]] in 2005.

Warsaw has thereafter remained an [[urban gmina]] with the status of a [[city with powiat rights]].<ref name="admin"/> [[Legislature|Legislative power]] in Warsaw is vested in a [[unicameralism|unicameral]] [[Warsaw City Council]] (''Rada Miasta''), which comprises 60 members.<ref name="admin"/> Council members are elected directly every five years (since [[2018 Polish local elections|2018 election]]). Like most legislative bodies, the city council divides itself into committees which have the oversight of various functions of the city government.<ref name="admin"/> The city mayor exercises the executive power in the city, being the superior of all unelected municipal- or county-level officials and other employees and supervising all subsidiary entities of the city. The incumbent [[List of city mayors of Warsaw|city mayor of Warsaw]] is [[Rafał Trzaskowski]].

The ''Warsaw Act'' imposes a mandatory division into 18 auxiliary units called ''dzielnica'' (district) on the city. In spite of remaining an integral part of the city as an entity, the districts have a degree of autonomy legally guaranteed through a form of an own local self-government exercising some powers devolved by law from the city. They have the duty to assist the city mayor and the City Council in their tasks, such as supervising some municipal companies, city-owned property or schools. Each of the 18 city districts has an own council (''rada dzielnicy'')<ref name="admin"/> which elects an executive board (''zarząd dzielnicy'') headed by a district mayor (''burmistrz dzielnicy''), the latter elected by the council among several candidates nominated by the city mayor of Warsaw among the council's members.