TITLE IX. POLITICAL ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION
Chapter I. Of Municipalities
Article 175
The national territory shall be divided for the purpose of its administration into departments, autonomous regions of the Atlantic Coast, and municipalities. The relevant laws shall determine their creation, extension, number, organization, structure, and the functioning of the various territorial units (circumscripciones).
Article 176
The municipality is the basic unit of the political-administrative division of the country.
Article 177
Municipalities possess administrative and financial autonomy. The municipal authorities are responsible for their administration and management.
Autonomy neither exempts nor inhibits the executive branch nor the other branches of government from their obligations and responsibilities with the municipalities. The obligation to assign a sufficient percentage of the General Budget of the Republic to the municipalities of the country, which shall be distributed giving priority to the municipalities with less capacity for revenues, is established. The percentage and their distribution shall be determined by law.
Autonomy is regulated according to the Law of Municipalities, which shall require for its approval and amendment the favorable vote of an absolute majority of the Deputies.
The municipal governments have competence in matters affecting the socio-economic development of their administrative unit. Regarding contracts which regulate the efficient exploitation of natural resources located in their municipality, the State shall request and take into account the opinion of municipal governments prior to their authorization.
The law of municipalities shall include, among other aspects, the municipal powers, the relations with the central government, with the indigenous peoples of the entire country, and with all authorities of the State, as well as the inter-institutional coordination.
Article 178
The Mayor, the Vice Mayor, and the Councilors shall be elected by the people by means of a universal, equal, direct, free, and secret vote in accordance with the law. Those candidates who have obtained the relative majority of the votes shall be elected Mayor and Vice Mayor. The Councilors shall be elected on the basis of proportional representation, in accordance with the electoral quotient. The term of the municipal authorities shall be five years, starting with their inauguration before the Supreme Electoral Council.
The nomination for the posts of Mayor and Vice Mayor must be based on the principle of the equal and fair treatment of the sexes in the exercise of local power, as one of them must be a woman and the other a man, respecting the proportionality between the two sexes. The political parties and electoral alliances must present in their list of candidates for Mayor, Vice Mayor and Councilors fifty percent of men and fifty percent of women.
To be eligible as Mayor, the following qualifications are required:
- To be a Nicaraguan national.
- To be in full possession of one’s civil and political rights.
- To be at least twenty-one years old.
- To have resided or worked continuously in the country for four years prior to the election; this shall not apply to those who were engaged in diplomatic missions or pursuing studies abroad; in addition, to have resided continuously in the last two years in the municipality in which the candidate tries to get elected.
The Councilors, Mayor, and Vice Mayor may lose their position for the following reasons:
- Resignation of the position.
- Death.
- Final sentence of imprisonment or disqualification from office on account of a crime subject to a severe penalty for a period equal to or longer than the rest of their term.
- Relinquishment of the functions for sixty continuous days.
- Violation of section 4 of Article 130 of the Constitution.
- Failure to meet the obligation of declaring one’s assets before the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic at the time of assuming office.
- Having been declared liable for the mismanagement of municipal funds (fondos de la Alcaldía) by a decision of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic.
In the case of sections (d) and (e), the competent Municipal Council shall pass a resolution declaring that the Mayor or the Councilor has been involved in a situation which causes him/her to be removed from office.
This resolution or the public or authorized documents that substantiate the circumstances mentioned in the other subsections shall be transmitted to the Supreme Electoral Council together with the name of the alternate who shall take over, which shall be the Vice Mayor when the Mayor is replaced, or any of the elected Councilors when the Vice Mayor is replaced, or the request to declare one of the alternates elected Council member in case a Councilor is replaced.
The Supreme Electoral Council shall swear them in and introduce them into their functions within a period not exceeding fifteen days.
The restrictions applying to the employment of the Councilors in the municipal administration and the regime of allowances shall be regulated by law.
Article 179
The State shall promote the integral and harmonious development of the diverse parts of the national territory.
Chapter II. Communities of the Atlantic Coast
Article 180
The communities of the Caribbean Coast Carribbean Coast have the inalienable right to live and develop themselves under the forms of political-administrative, social and cultural organization that correspond to their historic and cultural traditions.
The members of Autonomous Regional Councils shall be elected by the people by universal, equal, direct, free and secret vote for a term of five years, in conformity with the law.
The State guarantees these communities the benefits of their natural resources, the effectiveness of their forms of communal property and the free election of their authorities and representatives.
Furthermore, it guarantees the preservation of their cultures and languages, religions and customs.
Article 181
The State shall organize by means of a law the regime of autonomy for the indigenous peoples and ethnic communities of the Atlantic Coast, which shall have to contain, among other rules: the functions of their government organs, their relation with the Executive and Legislative Power and with the municipalities, and the exercise of their rights. This law shall require for its approval and reform the majority established for the amendment of constitutional laws.
The concessions and contracts of rational exploitation of the natural resources granted by the State in the Autonomous Regions of the Atlantic Coast must have the approval of the corresponding Regional Autonomous Council.
The members of the Regional Autonomous Councils of the Atlantic Coast can lose their condition for the reasons and procedures established by law.
