Nicosia

Municipalities

The Nicosia municipality is responsible for all the municipal duties and responsibility on the southern part of city. The Nicosia Turkish municipality, founded in 1958, carried out municipal duties on the northern part of city.

Nicosia Municipality

Cyprus Supreme Court in Nicosia

South Nicosia is political, economic and cultural centre of the Republic of Cyprus. Greater Nicosia is subdivided into nine municipalities, but the metropolitan authority is the Municipality of Nicosia itself – within whose boundaries the Constitution states that the main government buildings and headquarters must be situated.
According to the constitution of Cyprus Nicosia Municipality was divided into a Greek and Turkish sector with two Mayors: a representative of the Greek community which was the majority, and a second one representing the Turkish community. The Mayors and the members of the Council were appointed by the President of republic. Since 1986, the Mayors and members of the Council are elected. The Mayor and the Municipal Councillors are elected by direct popular suffrage but into separate ballots – one for the Mayor and the other for all the Councillors. Municipal elections are held every five years.
The Mayor and the Councillors exercise all the powers vested in them by the Municipal Corporation Law. Sub-committees consisting of members of the Municipal Council act only on an advisory level and according to the procedures and regulations issued by the Council.
The Mayor is the executive authority of the Municipality, exercising overall control and managing the Municipal Council. The Council is responsible for appointing personnel employed by the Municipality. All municipalities in the Republic of Cyprus are members of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities. The executive Committee is the governing organ of the Union. This Committee is appointed from among the representatives of the Municipalities for a term of two and a half years. The Mayor of Nicosia is the President of the Union and the Chairman of the Executive Committee.

Nicosia Turkish Municipality

The first attempt to establish a Nicosia Turkish municipality  was made in 1958. In October 1959, the British Colonial Administration passed the Turkish Municipality Committees law. In 1960 with the declaration of independence of Cyprus, the Constitution of the Republic gave Turkish Cypriots the right to establish their own municipality. As negotiations between the two sides to establish separate municipalities failed in 1962, implementing legislation was never passed. Since the complete division of Nicosia following the Turkish Invasion in 1974, the Nicosia Turkish Municipality has become the de facto local authori
of northern Nicosia. The Nicosia Turkish Municipality is a member the Union of Cyprus Turkish Municipalities.

source: WIKIPEDIA

see also label ''nicosia'' for more photos of city