Territorial organization of Albania
Albania, according to law no. 115/2014 of July 31, 2014, is subdivided as follows:
- 12 counties (in Albanian and officially qark/qarkubut often prefekturë/prefekturasometimes translated as prefecture.
- 61 municipalities (in Albanian bashkia).
- 373 communes.
Administrative divisions
Counties
Counties are the first level of local government and are administered by the prefect (prefekti) and a county council (këshilli i qarkut). The prevect is appointed as a representative of the council of ministers. After the year 2000, 12 counties were created in total.
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Municipalities
The second level of government is made up of municipalities (bashki), which have resulted from the merger of several former municipalities and communities. They are headed by a mayor (kryebashkiak or kryetar bashkie) and a municipal council (k'shilli bashkiak), elected every 4 years. Municipalities are subdivided into local government units (njësi të qeverisjes vendore). After 2014, there are 61 municipalities in total.
Communes
There are 373 units or communes within Albania.
Composition of each level
The councils of each county are made up of the mayors of all the municipalities in the area. They are the responsibility of certain tasks of the local administration, which are defined in the Law of Organization and Function of the Local Administration of the year 2000. However, local administrations depend to a large extent on the central government. It also appoints the prefects who act as the government oversight body in each county and provide the non-delegated functions of local businesses.
Although the districts have been abolished and relieved of their administrative duties, they remain ubiquitous in Albanian daily life. Unlike the top-level county, the districts corresponded to traditional regions (eg Mirdita, Dibra, Mat, Has, Tropoja, Kolonja, Skrapar) or cities with their ancestral constituency (eg Tirana, Elbasan, Librazhd, Gramsh, Gjirokastra). The old, but still used, vehicle registration plates and the ISO 3166-2 code list for Albania are still divided into districts.
History
Since its independence in 1912, Albania has undergone various reforms in its territorial organization. The most significant change was made in 1991, when 10 new districts were added to the 26 already existing since the previous reform of 1959. Since then minor changes were made until there were 36 districts grouped into 12 counties, prior to its abolition in 2014.
Districts
Each of the counties of Albania is divided into several districts or rrethe, making a total of 36 in the whole country. The capital, Tirana, has a special status. The districts were:
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