Local government in the Arab Union

In the Union of Arab Republics (UAR; informally known as the Arab Union) local government occupies the third and lowest tier of public administration.

The union as a whole (and thus its federal government) shares sovereignty with each of the 20 republics (federated states) of the Arab Union, each of which has its own respective government (formally known as a governorate); the governorates make up the middle tier of government, below the upper (federal) level. The Constitution of the Arab Union delineates the division of power, responsibility and areas of jurisdiction between the federal government and the governorates. For example, the nation's single-payer universal healthcare system is administered entirely by the federal government, while the great majority of law enforcement and administration of justice comes under the jurisdiction of each republic.

As the constitution makes virtually no reference to governance or public administration at the local level, the Local Government Act, 2004 functions as the primary legislation enabling local government and outlining its areas of responsibility and authority (mandatory and optional) as distinct from the upper two levels of administration. The information below is an overview of the provisions laid out in the 2004 act.

Incorporation and structure

 * 1) Each local government authority is formally referred to as a local council (Arabic: مجلس محلي majlis maḥallī), in common parlance simply a council (مجلس majlis).
 * 2) Each council is responsible for a defined geographic territory formally known as a baladiyah (بلدية), meaning township, commune or municipality (but usually translated as council area, or just council when context is clear).
 * 3) Each baladiyah consists not only of its own developed, settled land, but also any surrounding undeveloped land up to the boundaries of each neighbouring baladiyah, with some exceptions. As such, most (if not all) of a given republic's territory is incorporated, ie. located within the jurisdiction of a specific council; only large expanses of uninhabited territory, namely deserts, remain unincorporated.
 * 4) A local council consists of between 10 and 100 seats (depending on population), with each seat representing a specific council district, each ideally similar in population; council elections take place every two years. A newly elected council holds first session within 30 days of election, wherein it elects from amongst itself a chairperson. The chair does not vote, except to break a tie.
 * 5) The council chair nominates a council manager at the second session, which is held within 30 days of the first; the nominee is appointed as manager by a majority vote.
 * 6) The search for a candidate for council manager is typically conducted via the professional recruitment process, by the council's own HR department, one of the few executive organs to remain under the control of the chair once a manager is hired; the ideal council manager is a professional with a background in city planning, civil engineering, public administration or similar, and must not be a council member.
 * 7) A council manager is responsible for overseeing the executive functions of local government, all heads of local administration and municipal services reporting to him, allowing the council chair to focus on leading the council in overall policy development; a manager leads day-to-day executive affairs, and is ultimately answerable to council via the chair, with whom he consults regularly.
 * 8) A council manager can be fired by majority vote in council, after which the chair has 30 days to nominate a new manager.
 * 9) A council may also cast a vote of no confidence to remove its chair; this, however, requires a fresh council election within 30 days, until which the incumbent councillors sit as a provisional council, lead by an acting chair whom they appoint.
 * 10) Two or more councils sharing a common populated area, infrastructure, commerce, industry and/or resources may form a combined authority (سلطة مشتركة sulṭah mushtarakah), to which administration of specific services is delegated. Combined authorities are most common in metropolitan areas, where several overlapping services are shared by multiple adjacent councils across a contiguous urban landscape.
 * 11) A combined authority is controlled by a special council, to which each participating local council appoints an equal number of members. Special councils function much like local councils, electing a chair who in turn appoints a manager; each member, however, sits at the pleasure of the local council by which they were appointed, and special councils are only dissolved alongside the combined authority for which they were responsible.