in areas where catalan or occitan are spoken, the term has been used since medieval times. at present it is used in a variety of cases. the president of andorra's parliament is known as the ""síndic general"" or general councillor. until the 1993 constitution, the síndic was the effective head of government of andorra. similarly, the sindic d'aran / síndic d'aran (in occitan and catalan, respectively) is the head of the administration of this small region (vall d'aran) in catalonia. in catalonia, the balearic islands and the valencian community, the "síndic de greuges" or "síndica de greuges" ("advocate of grievances") is the ombudsman or ombudswoman, while the "síndic de comptes" or "síndica de comptes" is a board member of the public audit office in each of the three regions. in the valencian parliament, the spokesperson or speaker of a parliamentary group is called a "síndic" or "síndica", and together they form the "junta de síndics" (board of spokespersons), while in the horta de valència region (the area around the city of valencia), a "síndic" is also a member of the water tribunal ("tribunal de les aigües"), the body in charge of regulating irrigation matters. in alguer, sardinia, the "síndic" is the equivalent of mayor.