The 28 provinces of Bulgaria are divided into 265 municipalities (община, obshtina). Municipalities typically comprise multiple towns, villages and settlements and are governed by a mayor who is elected by popular majority vote for a four-year term, and a municipal council which is elected using proportional representation for a four-year term. The creation of new municipalities requires that they must be created in a territory with a population of at least 6,000 and created around a designated settlement. They must also be named after the settlement that serves as the territory's administrative center, among other criteria.
The council of a municipality is further permitted to create administrative subdivisions: mayoralties (kmetstvo), settlements (naseleno myasto), and wards or quarters (rayon). Mayoralties are overseen by elected mayors and typically comprises one or more villages or towns; they must contain a population of at least 250. Settlements are overseen by a manager appointed by the mayor of a municipality and thus have fewer responsibilities and less power than a mayoralty; they must have a population of fewer than 150. Wards are overseen by elected mayors and must include a population of at least 25,000; their creation is required in Bulgaria's three most populous municipalities.
