Municipalities of Bulgaria

The 28 provinces of Bulgaria are divided into 265 municipalities (община, obshtina). Municipalities typically comprise multiple towns, villages and settlements and are governed by a mayor who is elected by popular majority vote for a four-year term, and a municipal council which is elected using proportional representation for a four-year term.[1] The creation of new municipalities requires that they must be created in a territory with a population of at least 6,000 and created around a designated settlement. They must also be named after the settlement that serves as the territory's administrative center, among other criteria.[2]

Politics of Bulgaria
Constitution 1879 1947 1971 1991
Presidency President (list) Rumen Radev Vice President Iliana Iotova
Executive Legislative Government Prime Minister (list) Nikolay Denkov National Assembly Speaker: Vezhdi Rashidov
Law Judiciary Nationality law Human rights Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Administrative Court Supreme Court of Cassation Office of the General Prosecutor
Major political parties PP GERB DPS Bulgarian Socialist Party Democratic Bulgaria Revival Bulgarian Rise
Recent elections Presidential: 2016 2021 Parliamentary: 2021 (Nov) 2022 2023 European: 2014 2019 2024
Administrative divisions Provinces (oblasti) Municipalities (obshtini)
Foreign relations 2007 EU enlargement Kristalina Georgieva Politics of the European Union
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Municipalities of Bulgaria

Provinces of Bulgaria

The council of a municipality is further permitted to create administrative subdivisions: mayoralties (kmetstvo), settlements (naseleno myasto), and wards or quarters (rayon).[1] Mayoralties are overseen by elected mayors and typically comprises one or more villages or towns; they must contain a population of at least 250.[2] Settlements are overseen by a manager appointed by the mayor of a municipality and thus have fewer responsibilities and less power than a mayoralty; they must have a population of fewer than 150. Wards are overseen by elected mayors and must include a population of at least 25,000; their creation is required in Bulgaria's three most populous municipalities.[2]

Like municipalities themselves, mayoralties and wards are designated administrative-territorial units, as they have their own elected officials. Settlements, however, are simply designated territorial units since their leaders are appointed.[2]