Kmetstvo

The kmetstvo is established under the Law on the Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Republic of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Закон за административно-териториалното устройство на Република България, ZATURB), which classifies the oblast (province) and the obshtina (municipality) as the country's two administrative-territorial units, while the kmetstvo and the urban ward (rayon) are defined as composite administrative-territorial units within municipalities. ^[1] Under Article 14 of the law, a kmetstvo may be created on the territory of a municipality by decision of the municipal council and consists of one or more neighbouring settlements; under Article 15, its territory is the territory of the settlements included in it, and its name is that of the settlement serving as its administrative centre.^[1]

The activity of the mayor of a kmetstvo is regulated by the Law on Local Self-Government and Local Administration (LSGLA, Bulgarian: Закон за местното самоуправление и местната администрация). ^[3] Together with the obshtina and the oblast, the kmetstvo possesses a territory, borders, a population, a name and an administrative centre, while the urban ward has only a territory, borders, a population and a name.^[1]

The conditions for creating a new kmetstvo are set out in Article 16 of the ZATURB. ^[3] Settlements that, on the day a presidential decree calling general local elections is promulgated, meet the requirements of Article 16, point 1 (later Article 14) automatically acquire the status of kmetstvo, and elections for a mayor of the kmetstvo are held in them at the same time as general elections for municipal councillors and mayors.^[4]

The minimum population needed for a settlement to obtain the status of kmetstvo has changed several times since the adoption of the ZATURB in 1995. After amendments adopted in 2021 (State Gazette no. 36/2021), the threshold for creating a new kmetstvo is set in Article 14, with transitional provisions providing that all settlements meeting the new requirement automatically acquire kmetstvo status at the next local elections, while in those that no longer meet it the previous mayor's representative (kmetski namestnik) continues to perform the duties of office until a new mayor of the kmetstvo is sworn in.^[4][3]

According to a country profile by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, settlements that are not cities and have a population of more than 100 inhabitants are referred to as kmetstva and have elected mayors, while in settlements with a population below 100 the municipal mayor appoints a representative (kmetski namestnik). ^[2] An OECD-affiliated profile prepared with the support of the World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment notes that mayoralties and urban wards in Bulgaria are governed by mayors elected through universal suffrage for a four-year term, and that in settlements with fewer than 350 inhabitants which are not the administrative centre of a kmetstvo, the municipal mayor appoints a delegate mayor (kmetski namestnik) to carry out executive duties.^[5]

A 2018 technical report prepared for the Council of Europe describes the kmetstvo as a form of intra-municipal administrative decentralisation that combines local administration with the role of intermediary between the citizens and the municipal council. ^[6] In a typical kmetstvo, the mayor combines two functions: managing administrative or technical work, and representing the local community at meetings of the municipal council; in a village kmetstvo this normally amounts to a one-person administration, while in larger towns the municipality may assign a staff of three to five people.^[6]

The CEMR profile of Bulgaria similarly notes that the municipality (obshtina) is the country's only administrative and territorial tier of local self-government, and that within municipalities, kmetstva and urban wards form sub-municipal units led by directly elected mayors. ^[2]

The number of kmetstva in Bulgaria has fluctuated as the population threshold and the rules for retaining or losing the status have been amended. In 2020 the World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment reported that Bulgaria's 5,257 settlements (257 towns and 5,000 villages) were grouped, at the sub-municipal level, into around 3,187 kmetstva in rural areas, 35 urban wards (gradski rayon) in the largest cities, and around 1,070 small villages with fewer than 350 inhabitants. ^[5]

The records held by the National Statistical Institute in its register of mayoralties (town halls) list approximately 3,041 kmetstva.^[7]

The capital, Stolichna Municipality, is a special case in which a number of kmetstva are simultaneously included within municipal districts (rayon), reflecting the additional administrative tier created in the capital and in cities of more than 300,000 inhabitants under a separate statute, the Law on the Territorial Division of the Stolichna Municipality and the Large Cities. ^[1][2]