The City Council is the highest authority of Blackrock's government. It consists of an Inner Council and the Elective Council, which serve different purposes.
The Inner Council, consisting of a varying number of the people, form the highest level of the executive branch. Its members are selected from among the Elective Council - through an internal election - and receive titles as ministers of one of the city's many departments. Depending on which title and department, their overall power and influence can vary.
The city's Mayor is the head of the Inner Council, and officially has the same authority as the other council members, but is unofficially recognized as the highest officer of the government. It is the only office which is elected by the entire population of Blackrock. Generally, there are many rounds to such an election, with gradually lower participation, as local candidates drop out, until participation rises again towards the last round.
Established procedure is to eliminate half the candidates after each round of the election. This process repeats until a candidate achieves a majority. Often this only happens once only two or three candidates remain. This kind of election usually occurs every six years, unless the election cycle is disturbed by outside events.
The members of the Elective Council form the legislative branch of government, voting to pass or repeal laws that will be enacted in the city. Although the mayor has the right to veto any such decision. A power which is rarely used. The members of the council are elected from within individual electoral districts. The process for this varies by district, but is usually a simple plurality vote, with only one round of voting.
Electoral Districts
The electoral districts are set by a member of the Inner Council - usually the Minister for Elections - who has a duty to ensure fair representation. Districts are generally shaped to include around 10'000 citizens, though special provisions made to certain subdivisions of the city, can make this difficult at times. Due to Blackrock's size, this means the City Council now consists of over 100 members.
There are few other restrictions when it comes to designing electoral districts. Elective districts may not cross the borders of the city's eight administrative districts - city centre and the seven outer districts. Some sub-districts of the city have been granted further autonomy. In such cases, electoral districts generally also may not cross the sub-district's borders, but this relies on the exact treaties and charters of rights, which very by case.
Many of these sub-districts insist on these restrictions, due to fears they would otherwise be entirely unrepresented in the council, as many of them do not have requisite 10'000 citizens, and would otherwise be at risk of being distributed among other electoral districts. Meanwhile the larger of these districts would likely still lose representatives, if they were to lose their special rights. It is an open secret that the City Council often uses its liberties when designing electoral districts, to strengthen their own interests.