mayor

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Title of the head of urban (city or town) administration. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the mayor is the principal officer of a district council that has been given district-borough status under royal charter. In the USA a mayor is the elected head of a city or town. In 1996 the Labour Party suggested proposals for directly-elected mayors in Britain, which it confirmed when it came into power in 1997. A referendum in May 1998 approved establishing an elected mayor of London: Ken Livingstone was elected in 2000. A July 1998 government White Paper proposed allowing local authorities to introduce directly-elected mayors, working together with assemblies or executive committees, as a way of reviving local democracy. However, by October 2001, only 13 councils had held referendums, with 7 approving the election of a mayor.

Parish councils that adopt the style of town councils have a chair known as the town mayor. In Scotland the equivalent officer is known as a provost. In certain cases the chair of a city council may have the right to be called Lord Mayor (a usage also followed by Australian cities). The office of mayor was revived (for the first time since 1871) in Paris for Jacques Chirac in 1977.

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