Local government in Gylias

Gylias is a federal republic with three levels of governance: federal, regional, and municipal. Local government in Gylias has a special significance due to the country's use of direct democracy mechanisms and strongly decentralised organisation. Governance has been shaped by the country's strong anarchist heritage, with local government being placed at the centre of Gylian politics and higher levels of governance being non-hierarchical and based on the principle of subsidiarity.

Principles of local governance

The Constitution of Gylias establishes communal assemblies, weekly meetings at a community level where issues are debated and decisions taken, as the "main organ of governance". According to this principle, governance starts at the lowest tier of administration possible, with higher tiers exercising responsibilities that are delegated to them by popular will. As a result, regional and federal governments have well-defined limits on their capabilities, playing more of a coordinating role, and most responsibilities are shared by all levels of governance, with a preference for their exercise at the most local level possible.

Gylias originally had only two tiers of administration between 1958 and 1970: federal and municipal. The intermediary regional tier was established by a local government reform after the 1969 federal election, with the first regional elections taking place the following year.

Like all other legislatures in Gylias, municipal and regional assemblies are popular legislatures whose members serve part-time.

Municipalities

Municipalities (French: municipalités) are the lowest level of local government, and thus the foundation of Gylian local government. There are a total of 3175 municipalities in Gylias. Based on their population and geography, they are classified as urban, rural, or natural. The last type are uninhabited and located entirely in protected areas, being governed by special bodies constituted by neighbouring municipalities.

Municipalities cover the entire territory of Gylias, and there are no unincorporated areas. As municipal boundaries are based on population, with a threshold of at least 1000 residents, this has caused some municipalities to cover large areas of sparsely populated land.

Municipal governance

See also: Municipal elections

Municipalities, as larger administrative entities than common assemblies, complement the common assemblies in a cooperative dual power system, fulfilling the role of balancing competing interests, ensuring equal representation, and overseeing fair development of the community.

The norm of local government is for smaller municipalities (which are also often rural) to govern themselves through direct democracy, taking decisions in communal assemblies and extraordinary assemblies if necessary. Municipalities with a larger population elect their own assemblies, the municipal councils (conseils municipales).

Many of Gylias' larger cities have formed city councils (conseils urbaines), by federating their municipal councils into a single city-wide council, which govern in cooperation with communal assemblies. Municipal government members, heading specific departments, are known as ediles, from the Latin aedile.

The majority of municipalities use a directorial system, where the council collectively forms the municipal government, and appoints a professional manager — often a notable local figure — to ceremonially chair its meetings. Large cities have mayors (maires), which are elected by voters separately.

Municipal elections are notable for being dominated by residents' associations, localist parties, and independent candidates, with larger federal parties and electoral blocs being comparatively disadvantaged. The Urban Movement, Free Land Party, and Independent Regional Alliance for Minorities are parties notable for their strong success at a local level. A plurality of all mayors elected since independence have been UM.

Municipal responsibilities

Municipalities are responsible for a wide range of local services, and other sectors that have been municipalised. Legally, municipalities can take on any competence they wish, as long as it does not disrupt the constitutional foundation of Gylias.

Their responsibilities include:

• Child care and pre-tertiary education
• Primary education and secondary education
• Social services, elderly care, and services and supports for people with disabilities
• Emergency services
• Waste management, sewage treatment, water supply, and other sanitation services
• Urban planning and land management
• Public housing, maintenance, and beautification
• Recycling and local environmental policies
• Public utilities
• Transport and local infrastructure

Municipalities cooperate with regional and federal governments in delivering public services and social security. In addition, they organise leisure and cultural activities, and oversee parks, playgrounds, and other open spaces.

Municipalities are required by law to hold regular public consultations, separate from but complementing communal assemblies. A notable feature of these consultations is that children are polled for what events and activities they want, based on which the councils formulate annual play action plans.

Municipalities finance themselves through local taxes (of which land value tax and property tax are the most significant), municipal bonds and local currencies. In addition, they receive all taxation levied in their territory at the federal level.

Regions

Regions (French: régions) are the second level of local government, representing the layer between the municipalities and the federal government. There are 20 administrative regions. They are formed by the federation of municipalities, and mainly carry out roles of coordination and management.

Regional governance

See also: Regional elections

Each administrative region elects an assembly, known as the regional council, as well as separate governors (gouverneurs). Regional government members, heading specific departments, are known as prefects.

Regional elections feature strong representation for regionalist parties.

Regional responsibilities

Administrative regions are responsible for matters handled at a local level but which require greater amounts of coordination and planning than municipalities can provide. In addition to their coordination and management responsibilities, they also have an executive function, carrying out the implementation of policies made at the municipal or federal level.

Their responsibilities include:

• Regional healthcare and educational organisation
• Transport planning and regional infrastructure
• Environmental and conservation policies
• Regional development and planning
• Overseeing the deposit-refund systems
• Agricultural policy and land management

Regional governments collaborate with federal and municipal governments in delivering public services and social security.

Administrative regions finance themselves through regional taxes (including currency transaction taxes, financial transfer taxes, and Pigovian taxes) and regional currencies. In addition, they request funds from municipalities to cover regional projects, and receive equalisation payments at the federal level.

List of regions

SL

MK

GC

GE

AR

AŢ

TA

KA

MŞ

SV

EL

AS

EN

NE

TO

ḐR

AÐ

HE

NA

NID

Flag	Region	Abbr.	Capital	Area (km²)	Population
	Salxar	SL	Şet	77,390	202.425
	Makarces	MK	Jaţe	52,925	185.145
	Gacar	GC	Razyn	58,362	199.956
	Gerşyr	GE	Mytin	61,453	207.362
	Arxaþ	AR	Xakalen	105,906	878.820
	Alţira	AŢ	Senik	83,733	920.786
	Tandar	TA	Sænor	96,738	802.293
	Kausania	KA	Dáuzas	104,466	1.555.215
	Mişeyáke	MŞ	Zaul	112,408	2.653.739
	Sváen	SV	Lænas	17,001	1.160.239
	Elena	EL	Argyrokastron	65,344	1.826.760
	Arsad	AS	Keraþ	108,304	713.424
	Envadra	EN	Mayt	113,781	962.752
	Nezyál	NE	Kyman	65,451	1.486.094
	Tomes	TO	Iásas	132,662	1.974.876
	Ḑarna	ḐR	Deðras	87,464	1.550.277
	Aðuna	AÐ	Tavis	92,421	1.579.901
	Herlan	HE	Arnak	70,941	1.752.702
	Nauras	NA	Nyretak	59,801	1.370.070
	Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk	NID	Eyþer	141,776	2.703.111
Data from the 2020 census conducted by the Bureau of Statistics and Accounting.