County Councils of Sweden
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2009) |
 Sweden's administration |
|---|
| Counties of Sweden: |
| Municipalities of Sweden: |
|
| See also: |
A county council, in Swedish landstingsfullmäktige, is an elected assembly of a regional municipality (landsting or region) having the same borders as the government run county in Sweden.
A county council is a political entity, elected by the county electorate and typically its main responsibilities lie within the public health care system. Within the same borders, for the county there is also a county administrative board which is an administrative entity appointed by the government.
The Swedish name of these regional municipalities, Landsting, is the same as was used by the supreme tings of the historical provinces of Sweden. In 2010, the different landstingsfullmäktige have a combined 1,662 seats according to the Swedish Election Authority (Valmyndigheten).[1]
Constitutionally the county councils exercise a degree of municipal self-government provided for in the Constitution of Sweden. This does not constitute any degree of federalism, which is consistent with Sweden's status as a unitary state. In Swedish terminology the county council is considered to be a "provincial municipality" or landstingskommun.
In each county there are also several smaller entities for the local government and administration that constitute municipal self-government, which are independent of the county councils. It is called a "primary municipality" or primärkommun, and more plainly "municipality" or kommun, whereas the regional landsting are secondary municipalities. The island of Gotland is a special case in that it makes up one full county but at the same time only one municipality. As Gotland does not have a separate entity for a county council, the Municipality of Gotland also handles the county council tasks.
During a trial period the government has decided to devolve some of the authority from the county administrative boards in three different counties. This authority will instead be held by the evolved county councils in Skåne, Västra Götaland and Gotland, now called regional councils.[citation needed]
References [edit]
- ^ "Val till landstingsfullmäktige_Valda, Mandatfördelning per landsting". 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2010-10-31. Text "publisher: Val.se" ignored (help)
