Municipalities of Croatia

A Municipality in Croatia is known as an općina (plural: općine). Though equal to Croatian cities (grad, plural: gradovi) in administrative powers, they are usually more likely to consist of a collection of villages in more rural or suburban area, whereas cities are more likely to cover urban area. According to the law, a municipality is a local self-government unit which is established, as a rule, for the area of several inhabited settlements representing a natural, economic and social whole, connected by the common interests of the population.

Municipalities, within their self-governing scope of activities, perform the tasks of local significance, which directly fulfil the citizens’ needs, and which were not assigned to the state bodies by the Constitution or law, and in particular affairs related to the organization of localities and housing, zoning and planning, public utilities, child care, social welfare, primary health services, education and primary schools, culture, physical education and sports, customer protection, protection and improvement of the environment, fire protection and civil defence, local transport.

Municipal council (općinsko vijeće) is the representative body of citizens and the body of local self-government. The councillors are elected for a four-year term on the basis of universal suffrage in direct elections by secret ballot using proportional system with d'Hondt method. The executive head of the municipality is the municipality president (or head of the municipality, općinski načelnik), also elected in direct elections for a four-year term, by majoritarian vote (two-round system) (the deputy president is elected together with the president). He/She (with the deputy president) can be recalled by a referendum. Municipalities have administrative departments as offices of municipal administration (in small municipalities there is unique administrative department) chaired by the heads (principals). They are appointed by the municipal president on the basis of a public competition.

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