Each municipality is led by a municipal council, elected for four years. The number of politicians in the council is an uneven number between 9 and 31, depending on the size of the municipality (the council of the City of Copenhagen, however, has 55 members).
All Danes and citizens of the EU, Norway and Iceland above the age of 18 years can vote or offer themselves as candidates at municipal elections. The next elections will take place in November 2013.
Each council elects a chairman among its members – the mayor. It is the mayor's duty to prepare, call and chair all meetings of the local council, and also to prepare a draft agenda. The mayor is also the chief executive of the local administration, and in that capacity he or she must ensure that decisions by the local council are executed.
The council must set up a finance committee and at least one other permanent or "standing" committee which is to be responsible for the immediate administration of municipal tasks. The mayor is the chairman of the finance committee.
The committee structure varies greatly from one municipality to the other. However, municipalities often have a social services committee, a technical and environmental committee and a committee for education and culture.
Every municipality has an administration that serves the municipal council and the committees. Normally, the administration has several departments, e.g. a technical department, a social and health services department, a finance department and an education and culture department.