Amunicipal district is an administrative entity comprising a clearly defined territory and itspopulation. It may be acity, atown, avillage, a small grouping of them, or a rural area.
InBrazil, municipal districts are, in general, subdivisions of a municipality and do not enjoy political autonomy in Brazil. Municipal districts seats are generally located in villages within the geographic area of a municipality, but sometimes can refer to neighbourhoods adjacent to the city that hosts the municipal seat. In big cities such asSão Paulo andRio de Janeiro districts can host a sub-prefecture (or sub-city hall). Municipal districts in Brazil succeed the old Portuguese parishes from the Brazilian colonial administration.
During the 'New State' (Estado Novo), presidentGetúlio Vargas, published the Decree-law no. 311, of 2 March 1938, which in its article 3, defined that municipalities' seats would have the status of cities and municipal districts would be named upon their districtal seat's name.[1]
Another type of district is theFederal District, which shares the status of state among the other 26 states. The government of the Federal District has the status of state and municipal government at the same time, with its seat located inBrasília.
InCanada, municipal districts are a type ofrural municipality inAlberta that is governed by elected councils with the mandate to administer rural areas that can include farmlands, resource areas, and unincorporatedhamlets and rural residential subdivisions.[2]Statistics Canada recognizes Alberta's64 municipal districts as a type ofcensus subdivision for statistical purposes.[3]
In Alberta, the termcounty is synonymous with the termmunicipal district and is not its own incorporated municipal status that is different from that of a municipal district. As such, Alberta Municipal Affairs provides municipal districts with the opportunity to brand themselves either asmunicipal districts orcounties in their official names.
Acounty in Alberta used to be a type of designation in a single-tier municipal system, but it was changed to "municipal district" under theMunicipal Government Act, when theCounty Act was repealed in the mid-1990s. They were then also permitted to retain the usage ofcounty in their official names.[4]
Statistics Canada also refers toNova Scotia's 12district municipalities as municipal districts for census subdivision purposes.[3] The City ofFlin Flon inManitoba also held a municipal district status between 1933 and 1946.[5]
In theDominican Republic, when amunicipality consists of more than oneurban center, those beside the municipalities seat can be elevated to the status of a municipal district (distrito municipal). A municipal council (Junta Municipal) for such a municipal district is nominated by the municipal council of the municipality to which it belongs (Ley 3455 Titulo I Capitulo IV).[6]
InIreland, eachcounty and city and county is divided into municipal districts consisting of one or morelocal electoral areas (LEAs). The members elected to thecounty council or the county and city council for these LEAs are also municipal district members for the relevant areas. Some municipal districts are titled "borough districts" (Clonmel,Drogheda,Sligo andWexford) or "metropolitan districts" (Limerick andWaterford), though they have no additional powers.[7][8] This does not apply in the case of the counties ofDún Laoghaire–Rathdown,Fingal orSouth Dublin, or to the cities ofCork,Dublin orGalway.
The system of municipal districts came into operation from 1 June 2014 followinglocal elections in May, at the same time as the abolition oftown and borough councils.[9]
InRussia,municipal districts are a form of local self-government[10] and a type ofmunicipal formations. They are usually formed within the borders of existing administrative districts.
In theUnited States, theDistrict of Columbia is divided into two municipal districts, based on the city's wards, solely for the purposes of electing delegates in theDemocratic Party's presidential primaries to theDemocratic National Convention.