the highest official in the municipalities of the USA, Great Britain, France, and a number of other bourgeois states. As a rule, mayors are elected by the municipal government and sometimes directly by the people. In some countries they are appointed or confirmed by the central government.
The mayor represents the municipal government and presides over its sessions. In France and some other states, the mayor, as an agent of the central government, heads the municipal administration. The mayor is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the municipal budget. He appoints individuals to numerous municipal posts and directs the work of the municipal bureaucracy. Certain powers, such as the registration of civil acts, are exercised by the mayor as a representative of the central authority.
In Great Britain and in some US cities mayors basically perform the functions of representatives and chairmen. The clerks of municipal councils and municipal administrators play the most important roles in the executive branches of the municipalities of Great Britain and the USA, respectively.