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Local Governments - Coggle Diagram
Local Governments
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The term local government refers to all those who manage the specific territory of a circumscription usually smaller than a province, that is to say, those of the cantons and urban and rural parishes.
Article 253 of the Constitution states that:
"Each canton shall have a cantonal council, which shall be composed of the Mayor and the Councillors elected by popular vote, from whom a Deputy Mayor will be chosen. The mayor will be its highest administrative authority and will preside over it with a casting vote. The urban and rural cantonal population will be proportionally represented in the council, in the terms established by law". In effect, it is the electoral law that determines how many will be the representatives of the rural population (they are known as "rural councillors", i.e. elected on behalf of the rural population of each canton).
The cantonal council (and in the case of Quito, the metropolitan council) is the legislative body of the canton. Its role is to study the cantonal reality and issue ordinances, which are like laws within the canton, as well as resolutions and agreements, applicable in the territorial area of the canton. 
As for parishes, there is a difference between urban and rural parishes in terms of their organization and governance.
Rural Parishes: Each of the rural parishes has a parish council. This is made up of by popularly elected members and is presided over by the member who has received the most votes in the election (Article 255 of the Constitution).The parish councils also have normative powers, that is to say, they can issue regulations, agreements, and resolutions, valid for their respective territorial constituencies and within the scope of their competencies. These rural GAD of course, cannot contravene the laws of the constitutional provisions and/or, the regulations dictated by the provincial, metropolitan and city councils (Art. 8 of COOTAD).
Urban parishes: they are simply administrative divisions of the canton and do not have their own authorities, either elected by the people or appointed by the authority.