Like in many other countries, municipalities (Serbian:општине /opštine) are the basic entities of local government in Serbia. The head of the municipality is thePresident of the municipality, while the executive power is held by theMunicipal council, and legislative power by theMunicipal assembly. The municipal assembly is elected on local elections (held every 4 years), while the President and the Council are elected by the Assembly. Municipalities have their own property (includingpublic service companies) and budget. Only the cities officially havemayors (Serbian:градоначелници /gradonačelnici), although the municipal presidents are often informally referred to as such.
The territory of a municipality is composed of a town (seat of the municipality) and surrounding villages (e.g. the territory of theMunicipality of Čoka is composed of the town ofČoka, which is the seat of the municipality, and surrounding villages). The municipality bears the name of the seat town.
Advocates of reform of local self-government system point out that Serbian municipalities are the largest inEurope by territory and as such can be inefficient in handling citizens' needs and distributing the income from the country budget into most relevant projects.[5][6]
The largest municipalitity by population isStara Pazova (62,318).[7]
Cities (Serbian:градови,romanized: gradovi) are another type of local self-government. The territory with thecity status usually has more than 50,000 inhabitants (although there are several cities with population smaller than that), but is otherwise very similar to a municipality.[1] There are 29 cities, each having an assembly and budget of its own. Only the cities havemayors (Serbian:градоначелници,romanized: gradonačelnici), although the presidents of the municipalities are often referred to as "mayors" in everyday usage.
As with a municipality, the territory of a city is composed of a city proper and surrounding villages (e.g. the territory of the City of Subotica is composed of theSubotica town and surrounding villages). Every city (and municipality) is part of an administrative district. The exception is the capitalBelgrade, which is not part of any district.[10]
The city may or may not be divided into city municipalities (Serbian:градске општине,romanized: gradske opštine). Six cities: Belgrade,Niš,Požarevac,Užice, andVranje comprise several city municipalities. Competences of cities and these municipalities are divided. The municipalities of these cities also have their assemblies and other prerogatives.
The largest city municipalitity by population isNew Belgrade (209,763).[7]
Serbian law still treatsKosovo as an integral part of Serbia (officially theAutonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija), although the United Nations administration (UNMIK) has established a new territorial organization of that territory. TheLaw on Territorial Organization defines 28 municipalities and 1 city on the territory of Kosovo.[1] In 2000 the municipality ofGora was merged withOpolje (part of the Municipality ofPrizren) into the new municipality ofDragaš and one new municipality was created:Mališevo. Later, from 2005 to 2008, seven new municipalities were created:Gračanica,Elez Han,Junik,Parteš,Klokot,Ranilug andMamuša.[11] However, the Government of Serbia does not recognise the territorial re-organisation of Kosovo, although some of these new-formed municipalities have Serb majority, and some Serbs participate in local elections. In three of those municipalities: Gračanica, Klokot-Vrbovac and Ranilug, Serbian parties won a majority in the2009 elections.[12][13]
By the 2013Brussels Agreement, Serbia agreed to disband its parallel municipal institutions in Kosovo, while the authorities of Kosovo agreed on creation of theCommunity of Serb Municipalities. However, both parties acted slowly to put this agreement in power.[14][15]
^Jerinić, Jelena (2006-12-01)."Konkretni oblici učešća građana"(PDF).Lokalna samouprava (in Serbian). Permanent conference of cities and municipalities/Vreme. p. 6. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on March 10, 2007. Retrieved2007-07-31.
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