The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:[3] The mayor of Sehlem is Gregor Zehe.

[1] The German blazon reads: Über grünem Schildfuß, darin zwei silberne Leisten, in Silber ein rotes Balkenkreuz, belegt mit grünem sechsspeichigem Rad.

The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Argent a cross gules, surmounting the whole a wheel spoked of six vert, in a base of the third two bars of the first.

Sehlem lies on the Autobahn A 1 and has at its disposal a railway station on the Koblenz-Trier line.