Kmetstvo and Obshchina

[Kjetil Ra Hauge]

>I received today explanations, whereby
>
>Municipality means 'Obshchina'
>Ward or district, 'gradski rayon', and
>Mayoralty (the word I do not understand), 'kmetstvo'
>
>There would be mayors of municipalities, of wards and of mayoralties
>(that is in the latter case 'kmet na kmetstvo').
>
>The fax I received states that Sofia and cities with more than 300 000
>inhabitants are divided into districts.
>On the contrary, a 'mayoralty' would consist in one or more built-up
>areas (villages) adjacent to a town. and a town would have one or more
>mayoralties.

This seems indeed to be the case. This anomaly is specifically mentioned in
an article by prof. (of geography) Marin Devedzhiev in "Kontinent" of 22
June:
"In March 1979 the then existing 1400 _obshtini_ were united into 300
_selishtni sistemi_. Three years later this was declared to be a mistake,
and the term "obshtina" was reintroduced, but not their number. They
remained 300, not 1400 like they were [...]. Since then there are two types
of _kmet_ in Bulgaria - of an _obshtina_ and of a _kmetstvo_; an
organisational absurdity that is found nowhere else in the world."

--- Kjetil Ra Hauge, U. of Oslo.
--- Tel. +47/22 85 67 10, fax +47/22 85 41 40