Its headquarters are at the Municipal Palace, located on the east side of the Plaza de La Independencia.

The municipality is made of two principal organs: the mayor's office and a fifteen-member city council.

[3] Of the 1,407,526 inhabitants of the canton over the age of 12, 639,068 are married, 541,758 are single, 33,116 are divorced, 30,898 are separated, and 47,930 are widowed.

[7] The canton is divided into 55 parishes (Spanish: parroquias), classified as either urban or rural.

The canton is divided into 11 administrative zones that decentralize the municipality and participate in a system of active management.