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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]
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]
