History
Baladiyat were first introduced in Libya in 1983 to replace the governorate system. The ten existing governorates were replaced with forty-six baladiyat,[1] but in 1988 that number was reduced to twenty-five baladiyat. In 1995 they were replaced by shabiyat. For Libya, the baladiyat are usually known in English as "districts" and sometimes as "municipalities", but the municipal level under the baladiyat and subsequent shabiyat systems was the Basic People's Congress. After the fall of Gaddafi and the transfer of government from the interim National Transitional Council to the elected General National Congress, the previous shabiyat and Basic People's Congress system was deemed inappropriate, and a revised system was authorized with governorates (muhafazat) as the primary division and districts (baladiyat) as their subdivision, with baladiyat having local councils.[2][3] This was implemented in part by the Council of Ministers with resolution No. 180 in July 2013, creating the baladiyah.[4] There were originally ninety-nine baladiyat listed for Libya,[5] but by March 2015 that number had grown to 108.[6] The first-level administration subdivisions, the governorates (muhafazat), have yet to be created[7] due to a vested interest in maintaining decentralized governance, and the continuing civil war.[8]
