The Mayor of Warsaw[1] (officially in Polish: Prezydent miasta stołecznego Warszawy[a][2]) is the head of the executive of the capital of Poland elected directly during local elections for a term of five years.

[4] The municipal self-government existed in Warsaw until World War II and was restored in 1990 (during the communist times, the National City Council – Miejska Rada Narodowa – governed in Warsaw).

The city was becoming increasingly unmanageable, especially after the administrative reform of Poland in 1999 which further complicated the local government structure of Warsaw.

Warsaw has thereafter remained an urban gmina with the status of a city with powiat rights.

Between 1950 and 1973 the highest representative of the government in Warsaw was named the "Head of the Presidium of the National Council of the Capital City of Warsaw" (Przewodniczący Prezydium Rady Narodowej miasta stołecznego Warszawy).