Local government in Sri Lanka

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Local government is the third and lowest level of government in Sri Lanka – after the central government and provincial councils. The local government bodies are collectively known as local authorities. They are responsible for providing a variety of local public services including roads, sanitation, drains, housing, libraries, public parks and recreational facilities.^[1]

There are no mayors in Sri Lanka and a “ city ” is not a legal division in the constitution of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan local authorities^[2] are divided into 3 different groups:

• 25 Districts administered under a District secretary / Government Agent (GA)
• Districts are divided into 331 ^[3] Divisional secretariats (DS) administered by a Divisional secretary (DS)
• Divisional secretariats (DS divisions) are subdivided into 14,022 Grama Niladhari Divisions (GN)^[4][5] served by a Grama Niladharis (GN) / village officers.

And some areas have special administrations :

• 24 Municipal councils that preside over the largest “ cities ”^[6]
• 41 Urban councils.

As of November 2017, there were 341 local authorities (24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils and 276 divisional councils). All local authorities are elected using the mixed electoral system.