Editing Moscow (section)

===Moscow authorities===
[[File:Tverskaya13 Moscow 06-2015.jpg|thumb|[[Government of Moscow]]]]

According to the [[Constitution of Russia|Constitution of the Russian Federation]], Moscow is an independent [[federal subject]] of the [[Russia|Russian Federation]], a [[Federal cities of Russia|city of federal importance]].

The [[Mayor of Moscow]] is the leading official in the executive, leading the [[Government of Moscow]], which is the highest organ of executive power.
The [[Moscow City Duma]] is the [[city duma]] ([[city council]] or local [[parliament]]) and local laws must be approved by it. It includes 45 members who are elected for a five-year term on [[Electoral district|single-mandate constituency]] basis.

From 2006 to 2012, direct elections of the mayor were not held due to changes in the [[Charter of the city of Moscow]], with the mayor appointed by presidential decree. The first direct elections from the time of the [[2003 Moscow mayoral election|2003 vote]] were to be held after the expiration of the current mayor in 2015, however, in connection with his resignation of his own free will, they took place in [[2013 Moscow mayoral election|September 2013]].

Local administration is carried out through eleven prefectures, uniting the districts of Moscow into administrative districts on a territorial basis, and 125 regional administrations. According to the law "On the organization of local self-government in the city of Moscow", since the beginning of 2003, the executive bodies of local self-government are municipalities, representative bodies are municipal assemblies, whose members are elected in accordance with the Charter of the intracity municipality.