Local government
[5] The country is divided into 27 governorates (محافظة muḥāfaẓah; Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [moˈħɑfzˤɑ]; genitive case: muḥāfaẓat [moˈħɑfzˤet]; plural: محافظات muḥāfaẓāt [moħɑfˈzˤɑːt]),[6] the top tier of local administration.
The state retains an advisory role in administrative and fiscal matters, and it provides technical support, coordination, and legal recourse to these levels.
With mayors, councils, and boards in place at the local level, newly elected officials, civil society organizations, decentralized technical services, private sector interests, other communes, and donor groups began partnering to further development.
The regions, at the highest decentralized level, will have a similar legal and financial autonomy, and will comprise a number of cercles within their geographical boundaries.
First, at the district and municipal level, traditional shura councils met to pick electors—persons who cast ballots for Loya Jirga delegates.
More traditional elements of political authority—such as Sufi networks, royal lineage, clan strength, age-based wisdom, and the like—still exist and play a role in Afghan society.
The deep ethnic, linguistic, sectarian, tribal, racial, and regional cleavages present in the country create what is called "Qawm" identity, emphasizing the local over higher-order formations.
Other major cities, these and other municipalities electing a mayor and councilors for each ward, include Mymensingh, Gopalganj, Jessore, Bogra, Dinajpur, Saidapur, Narayanganj, Naogaon and Rangamati.
The subdivisions of Georgia are autonomous republics (Georgian: ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა, avtonomiuri respublika), regions (მხარე, mkhare), and municipalities (მუნიციპალიტეტი, munits'ipaliteti).
[15] It has the power to collect taxes (in the form of assessment tax), to create laws and rules (in the form of by-laws) and grants licenses and permits for any trade in its area of jurisdiction, in addition to providing basic amenities, collecting and managing waste and garbage as well as planning and developing the area under its jurisdiction.
Since 2001, these have been led by democratically elected local councils, each headed by a Nazim (the word means "supervisor" in Urdu, but is sometimes translated as Mayor).
Before the implementation of the 1998 Constitution, the primary division was into about 36 districts (Albanian: rrethe), whose number, size, and importance varied over time.
Following their abolishment in the year 2000, the counties were divided into urban (bashki) and rural municipalities (komuna)[17] until the 2015 elections, when they were replaced by the current system.
Bulgaria is a highly centralised state, where the national Council of Ministers directly appoints regional governors and all provinces and municipalities are heavily dependent on it for funding.
The regions are divided into seventy-six districts (okresy, singular okres) including three "statutory cities" (without Prague, which had special status).
Some of these are further divided between Municipalities with Commissioned Local Authority (obce s pověřeným obecním úřadem, shortened to pověřená obec, pl.
When a vacancy arises, the King's Commissioner first asks the municipal council for its views as to a successor, then writes to the Minister of the Interior recommending a candidate.
They literally form the foundation of the whole Dutch system of local government; from time immemorial they have shouldered the responsibility for water management for the residents of their area.
This body consists of people representing the various categories of stakeholders: landholders, leaseholders, owners of buildings, companies and, since recently, all the residents as well.
Insular Portugal, comprising the two Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, is organized as two autonomous regions (in Portuguese, regiões autónomas).
Law 7/1985,[27] passed by the former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González Márquez (socialist), lays down the procedure of the Local Government.
Only one regional referendum has been held to date to seek consent for the introduction of direct elections elsewhere — by John Prescott in the northeast of England — and this was initially rejected by the people of the North East in 2004.
APSE works with more than 250 local authorities "to advise and share information and expertise on a broad range of frontline public services".
There are several different types of jurisdictions at the municipal level, including the city, town, parish, borough, village, reservations and boundaries.
During the 19th century there was a bitter struggle between Buenos Aires and the interior provinces, and there has long been an element of tension regarding the division of powers between the central government and provincial bodies.
The federal government retains control over such matters as the regulation of commerce, customs collections, currency, civil or commercial codes, or the appointment of foreign agents.
After the March 1976 coup, the federal government again intervened to remove all provincial governors and impose direct military rule over all municipalities.
Municipalities are enshrined in the constitution of 1988 as entities of the federation; their responsibilities are distinct from the other two levels in theory,[41] but overlap in practice (e.g. education, health, transportation).
They also had the power to establish unpaid five-member local boards or town councils in municipalities other than the departmental capital if the population was large enough to warrant such a body.
A governor could be reelected only once, and candidates for the post had to meet the same requirements as those for a senator, in addition to being a native of the department or a resident therein for at least three years before assuming office.
