MoldovaLocal Government
Figure 23. Administrative Divisions of Moldova, 1995
Source: Based on information from Soviet Union, Ministerstvo
geologii i okhrany nedr SSSR, "Po Moldavii, turistskaya
karta," Moscow, 1989.
Below the central government, Moldova is divided
administratively into forty raioane (sing.,
raion;
rayon/rayony,
in Russian; see Glossary), as in the
Soviet
period
(see
fig. 23). Each raion is governed by a
locally
elected council. Raion councils elect executive
committees
from among their members. The heads of these executive
committees
are the chief executive officers of the raioane.
City and
village governments are organized much like the
raion-
level governments. In addition to the raioane,
Chisinau
(the national capital), Balti, Bender, and Tiraspol are
designated municipalities and are directly subordinate to
the
national government.
In 1991 the national government began work on an
administrative reorganization intended to alter this
structure
and to reintroduce a system of counties (judete),
communes, and villages similar to the one that had been in
effect
during the interwar period, and one that was still in use
in
Romania. Under the new system, the counties would
consolidate
functions carried out by the smaller raioane, and
local
executives would be elected directly. However, this effort
was
stalled by the secession of Transnistria and the
declaration of
sovereignty by the Gagauz region, and the Parliament
elected in
1994 put the matter aside.
Data as of June 1995
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