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Award is alocal authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named afterneighbourhoods,thoroughfares,parishes,landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to the area (e.g. William Morris Ward in theLondon Borough of Waltham Forest, England). It is common in theUnited States for wards to simply be numbered.
The word "ward", for an electoral subdivision, appears to have originated in theWards of the City of London, where gatherings for each ward known as "wardmotes" have taken place since the 12th century.[1] The word was much later applied to divisions of other cities and towns inEngland and Wales andIreland.
In parts of northernEngland, award was an administrative subdivision of acounty, very similar to ahundred in other parts of England.
InAustralia,Canada,New Zealand,South Africa,Sri Lanka, theUnited Kingdom, and theUnited States, wards are anelectoral district, within a district ormunicipality, used inlocal government elections. In the United States, wards are usually subdivided intoprecincts forpolling purposes. It remains the nomenclature inWisconsin for what is now known as anelectoral precinct elsewhere in the United States.[2]
In some cities ofIndia, such asMumbai andDelhi, award is an administrative unit of the city region; a city area is divided into Zones, which in turn contain numerous wards. The smallest administrative unit ofGram Panchayats in India is also known as a ward.[3][4]InBangladesh wards are subdivisions of a city or town which administrates underCity Corporations andmunicipalities (pourashova)
In East Africa, the word ward used in English is translated into Swahili/Kiswahili as Kata.
In the case of a municipalamalgamation, the former cities and towns that make up the new metropolis may be referred to as wards.
InMonaco, wards are informal divisions of the country, grouped into quartiers.
In theRepublic of Ireland, urban divisions were calledwards (Irish:bardaí) and rural ones were calleddistrict electoral divisions. Both were renamed aselectoral divisions in 1996.[5] The electoral districts forIrish local authorities arelocal electoral areas.[6] These are generally defined as combinations of electoral divisions, and in urban areas were formally described as combination of wards.
Following the vote for theDublin City (UK Parliament constituency) candidate in the1865 United Kingdom general election, the results were published in a book broken down by ward and district in the city.[7]
InJapan, aku (or 区 inJapanese writing) is an administrative unit of one of the larger cities, closely equivalent to the divisions or wards of a London Borough or a New York Borough.
InVietnam, aphường is an administrative subunit of an inner city district, orquận.Wards and electoral divisions of Nepal are political divisions which are grouped intoGaunpalika (Rural Municipality. A rural municipality or municipality has minimum of five and maximum of 33 divisions.
InItaly, further traditional subdivisions of municipalities are calledrioni (meaningregion),quartieri (meaningquarter),borghi (meaningborough) orcontrade (meaningcountry), all without a peculiar definition and without a juridical value.