Vaitas was chairing during the City Council meetings. His competence also included criminal cases and he had the right to impose a death penalty. At first, he examined the cases alone, however since the 16th century two suolininkai also examined important cases (if the lawsuit was over 10 groschen) together with the vaitas. In the 16th century, Vilnius City Council consisted of 12 burgomasters and 24 councilors (half of them were Catholics, the other half were orthodoxes). There were no direct elections to the City Council and members to the council were chosen by the wealthy townspeople, merchants, workshops seniors. Burgomasters were being chosen until their deaths. In case of death, another member of the council was being chosen of the same religion. In 1536, Sigismund I the Old signed a privilege which regulated the magistracy formation principles that prohibited to choose close relatives to the council and all the new taxes, obligations and regulations required the prior agreement of the townspeople. Under the Russian Empire, the City Council was replaced with a City Duma. The city was the capital of the Lithuania Governorate in 1797–1801, Vilna Governorate-General in 1794–1912, and Vilna Governorate in 1795–1915. After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, Vilnius became a republican subordinate city and capital of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. The current Vilnius City Municipal Council was established in 1990. The Vilnius City Municipality is one of 60 municipalities of Lithuania and includes the nearby town of Grigiškės, three villages, and some rural areas. The town of Grigiškės was separated from the Trakai District Municipality and attached to the Vilnius City Municipality in 2000. A 50-member council is elected to four-year terms; the candidates are nominated by registered political parties and committees. As of the 2011 elections, independent candidates also were permitted. The last election was held in March 2019 and the results were: Public Election Committee "R. Šimašius Team "For Vilnius, which we are proud of" (17 seats), A. Zuokas and Vilnius Citizens Coalition "Happy Vilnius" (10 seats), Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (9 seats), the coalition of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania and Russians Alliance "Christian Families Alliance" (6 seats), Labour Party (5 seats), Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (3 seats). Before 2015, mayors were appointed by the council. Starting with the elections in 2015, the mayors are elected directly in a two-round system by voters registered in the municipality.