Politics

Palacio Municipal de Guadalajara, City Hall of the city.

Like other municipalities in Mexico, Guadalajara is governed by a municipal president, who exercises executive power for three consecutive years, this office is currently occupied by Jorge Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz candidate for the PRI. The legislature has the cabildo, formed by the form chosen by the candidate for mayor, made up of aldermen, who are not elected by the people by direct or indirect voting, but the return happens automatically if the mayor wins.

The municipality is divided into five electoral districts for the purpose of election of representatives of the city in the federal legislature. These districts are the VIII, IX, XI, XIII and XIV of the state of Jalisco.

Municipality and the metropolitan area Guadalajara Metropolitan Area

The city of Guadalajara and the municipality of Guadalajara are essentially co extensive with over 99% of the municipality living within the city limits, and nearly all of the municipality urbanized. Urbanization centered on the city spreads out over seven other municipalities; of Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, Tonalá, Tlajomulco de Zuñiga, El Salto, Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos and Juanacatlán. These areas form the "Guadalajara Metropolitan Area" (Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara in Spanish), which is the most populous in the state of Jalisco and the second most populous in the country after the Mexico City Metropolitan area. This metropolitan area had a population of 4,298,715 in 2008.