Baladiyat of Libya

The Baladiyah (singular), or baladiyat (plural), is the current second-level administration subdivision of Libya being reintroduced in 2012 by the General National Congress with Law 59 on the system of local administration, dividing the country into governorates (muhafazat) and districts (baladiyat), with baladiyah having local councils.

Baladiyah is an Arabic word used in many Arab countries to denote administrative divisions of a country.

History

Baladiyat were first introduced in Libya in 1983 to replace the governorate system. The ten existing governorates were replaced with forty-six baladiyat, but in 1988 that number was reduced to twenty-five baladiyat. In 1995 they were replaced by shabiyat. For Libya, the baladiyat are usually known in English as "districts" and sometimes as "municipalities", but the municipal level under the baladiyat and subsequent shabiyat systems was the Basic People's Congress. After the fall of Gaddafi and the transfer of government from the interim National Transitional Council to the elected General National Congress, the previous shabiyat and Basic People's Congress system was deemed inappropriate, and a revised system was authorized with governorates (muhafazat) as the primary division and districts (baladiyat) as their subdivision, with baladiyat having local councils. This was implemented in part by the Council of Ministers with resolution No. 180 in July 2013, creating the baladiyah. There were originally ninety-nine baladiyat listed for Libya, but by March 2015 that number had grown to 108. The first-level administration subdivisions, the governorates (muhafazat), have yet to be created due to a vested interest in maintaining decentrailzed governance, and the continuing civil war.

1988

Map showing subdivision of former governorates into the 25 baladiya

The table hereunder lists the old twenty-five baladiyat in alphabetical order with a link to each one and numbered to be located on the map. Note that each district linked may be both a baladiyah and a shabiyah. The many changes may not always be reflected in the linked article.

Number	Name	Region
1	Ajdabiya	Cyreneica
2	‘Aziziya	Tripolitania
3	Butnan	Cyreneica
4	Fati	Cyreneica
5	Jabal al Akhdar	Cyreneica
6	Jufra	Fezzan
7	Khoms	Tripolitania
8	Kufra	Cyreneica
9	Nuqat al Khams	Tripolitania
10	Wadi al Shatii	Fezzan
11	Ubari	Fezzan
12	Zawiya	Tripolitania
13	Benghazi	Cyreneica
14	Derna	Cyreneica
15	Ghadames	Tripolitania
16	Gharyan	Tripolitania
17	Misrata	Tripolitania
18	Murzuq	Fezzan
19	Sabha	Fezzan
20	Sawfajjin	Tripolitania
21	Sirte	Tripolitania
22	Tripoli	Tripolitania
23	Tarhuna	Tripolitania
24	Yafran	Tripolitania
25	Zlitan	Tripolitania

2013

The table for the 2013 baladiyat is not complete.

See also

• Provinces of Libya
• Governorates of Libya