Melilla

Melilla (/mɛˈliːjə/ meh-LEE-yə; Spanish: [meˈliʎa], locally: [meˈliʝa]; Berber: Mřič; Arabic: مليلية‎‎, Maliliyyah) is a Spanish autonomous city located on the north coast of Africa, sharing a border with Morocco with an area of 12.3 square kilometres (4.7 sq mi). Melilla, along with Ceuta, is one of two permanently inhabited Spanish cities in mainland Africa. It was part of Málaga province until 14 March 1995 when the city's Statute of Autonomy was passed.

Melilla, like Ceuta, was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 2011, it had a population of 78,476 made up of ethnic Spaniards, ethnic Riffian Berbers, and a small number of Sephardic Jews. Both Spanish and Riffian-Berber are the two most widely spoken languages, with Spanish as the only official language.

Melilla is officially claimed by Morocco, which considers it "occupied territory".

History

Melilla (Santurce)

Coordinates: 18°26′37″N 66°04′05″W / 18.443665°N 66.06800°W / 18.443665; -66.06800

Melilla is one of the forty sectors of Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

According to the 2000 United States Census, Melilla has a population of 926 people.

References

Melilla (disambiguation)

Melilla is an exclave of Spain in North Africa.

Melilla may also refer to:

See also

Melilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Melilla is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciónes) used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It has the smallest electorate of all the 52 districts and together with the other African enclave of Ceuta it is one of just two single member districts in Congress.

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68.2 of the Spanish constitution the constituency must be a single member district and the boundaries must be the same as the Autonomous City of Melilla and under Article 140 this can only be altered with the approval of congress. Voting is on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Officially, the electoral system used is closed list proportional representation with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. The fact that Melilla is a single member district means that in practice it uses the same first past the post system used in many anglophone countries like the United Kingdom and USA.