Democratic Governance >> Local Government >> Algeria

- Local Government History
- Administrative Divisions
- Municipal and Local Government Budgets
- Local Government Budgetary Reform
- Most Recent Local Elections
- Reform: Fiscal Decentralization?
- Country comparison

Local Government History

The historical development of the Algerian political system has created a centralized government with little local autonomy. Socialist-inspired centralized planning and the reliance on an official state political party for popular participation in the 1960s and 1970s led to concentration of power at the top of the political structure. In recent years, the Algerian government has sought to decentralize power to local political institutions, but these reforms have remained limited. Most local government institutions in Algeria administer and distribute the public services of the central government. The extensive national administrative system limits local autonomy and initiative.

Administrative Divisions

Algeria is divided into 48 provincial territories that are each governed by a provincial governor appointed by the president. In 2000, the city of Algiers lost its unique cabinet-level political status and was reduced to a provincial government. Governors act as representatives of the president in provincial affairs and report to the Ministry of Interior. An elected executive council acts as the legislative body in each province. Since 1989, the most effective political decentralization has occurred at the provincial level. Provincial governments are responsible for the distribution of state services, the regulation of small and medium businesses, administration of agriculture, tourism, roads, and education. Urban areas of provinces are divided into municipal authorities, while rural areas are governed by the People’s Communal Assemblies enjoying little autonomy. There are 1552 municipalities in Algeria. Municipal governments are subordinate to the provincial administration, but each has an elected assembly and an elected mayor.

Municipal and Local Government Budgets

The wilayas and municipalities, administered by elected bodies, are legal entities that have their own budgets. Most of the funding comes, however, from the central government, which supervises and oversees their respective budgets. The Ministry of the Interior supervises the wilaya budgets, while the governors, who are appointed, not elected, supervise the municipal budgets.

Most Recent Local Elections

See: Elections >> Algeria >> Local Elections

Reform: Fiscal Decentralization?

The nation's public works have suffered during the violence of the last decade. The Ministry of Public Works, Environment and Urbanization lacked the funds to effectively implement repairs and new development projects until 2001, when the government launched a three-year $7 billion Economic Recovery Program. In 2004 it was expanded to $55 billion over 2005-09, some of which would trickle down to local authorities.