Lithuania is divided into three levels ofadministrative divisions. The first-level division consists of10 counties (Lithuanian: singular –apskritis, plural –apskritys). These are sub-divided into 60 municipalities (Lithuanian: plural –savivaldybės, singular –savivaldybė), which in turn are further sub-divided into over 500 smaller groups, known aselderships (Lithuanian: plural –seniūnijos, singular –seniūnija).
At the end of its tenure as a Soviet Socialist Republic, Lithuania's administrative divisions consisted of 44 regions, 12 cities, 80 towns, 19 settlements, and 426 rural districts.[1] The reform of this system was an immediate concern for the new government.[2] TheConstitution of Lithuania, ratified in 1992, delegated the power of establishing future administrative units to the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas). Accordingly, the Seimas passed two fundamental laws: a 1993 law on government representation and a 1994 law specifying the territorial-administrative units and their boundaries.[2] The current system of a set of municipalities under 10 counties was codified by 1995.[2] Several changes were made in 2000, resulting in 60 municipalities.[3]
Ordinary municipal councilors are elected every four years from electoral lists using proportional representation. The mayor, who used to be a member of the council until 2023,[4] is elected directly by the residents using thetwo-round system since 2015 reforms.[5] Before then, the mayors were elected by the municipal councils.
The largest municipality by population in Lithuania isVilnius City Municipality with 593,436 residents, home to one fifth (20.7%) of the country's population. The smallest municipality by population isNeringa Municipality with 4,173 (0.1%) residents.[6]
Municipalities are established to perform certain functions provided bylaw. According to the abovementioned Republic of Lithuania Law on Local Self-Government, the functions ofmunicipalities are "functions related to local government,public administration and provision ofpublic services defined by theConstitution and attributed to municipalities by this and other laws". The processes of integration intointernational organizations - like theEU and NATO - are considered to be important external factors influencing the development of municipalpowers in the country.Lithuania, which has become a member of these organizations, has been assigned completely new responsibilities, some of which, naturally, also belonged to municipalities. In the case of EU integration, municipalities have been assigned the necessary information supply to theEuropean Commission, and in the case of integration intoNATO,municipalities have had new functions related tosecurity issues.
Lithuania portal
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