The state shall ensure administrative, financial, and economic decentralization. The law shall regulate the methods of empowering administrative units to provide, improve, and well manage public facilities, and shall define the timeline for transferring powers and budgets to the local administration units.

The State shall ensure the fulfillment of the needs of local units in terms of scientific, technical, administrative and financial assistance, and the equitable distribution of facilities, services and resources, and shall bring development levels in these units to a common standard and achieve social justice between these units, as regulated by Law.

Local units shall have independent financial budgets. The resources of local units shall include, in addition to the resources allocated to them by the State, taxes and duties of a local nature, whether primary or auxiliary. The same rules and procedures for the collection of public funds by the State shall apply to collection of such taxes and duties.  The foregoing shall be regulated by law.

The law shall regulate the manner in which governors and heads of other local administrative units are appointed or elected, and shall determine their competences.

Every local unit shall elect a local council by direct and secret ballot for a term of four years. A candidate shall be at lease twenty one (21) Gregorian years of age. The law shall regulate the other conditions for candidacy and procedures of election, provided that one quarter of the seats shall be allocated to youth under thirty five (35) years of age and one quarter shall be allocated for women, and that workers and farmers shall be represented by no less than 50 percent of the total number of seats, and these percentages shall include an appropriate representation of Christians and people with disability.

Local councils shall be competent to follow up the implementation of the development plan, to monitor of the different activities, exercise of oversight over the executive authorities using tools such as providing proposals, and submitting questions, briefing motions, interrogations and others, and to withdraw confidence from the heads of local units, as regulated by Law.  The law shall define the competences of other local councils, their financial sources, guarantees of their members, and the independence of such councils.

Local councils’ resolutions that are issued within their respective mandates shall be final. They shall not be subject to the interference by the executive authority, except to prevent the council from overstepping its jurisdiction, or causing damage to the public interest or the interest of other local councils.  Any dispute pertaining to the jurisdiction of these local councils in villages, centers or towns shall be settled by the governorate-level local council. Disputes regarding the jurisdiction of governorate-level local councils shall be resolved, as a matter of urgency, by the General Assembly of the Legal Opinion and Legislation Departments of the State Council. The foregoing shall be regulated by Law.

Every local council shall develop its own budget and final accounts, as regulated by Law.

Local councils shall not be dissolved by virtue of a general administrative action. The Law shall regulate the manner of dissolving and re-electing local councils.

Local administration system is divided into:

*Local administration units.

*Economic regions.

*General secretariat for local administration.

*Supreme council for local administration.

Local administration units are described by the law as the governorates, cities, centers, districts and villages.

Under presidential decree no. 475 of 1977, Egypt is divided into seven economic regions as follows:

1-Cairo region, which includes the governorates of Cairo, Giza, and Qalubiya.

2-Alexandria region, which includes the governorates of Alexandria, Beheira, Matruh and the Noubariya district.

3-The Delta region, which includes the governorates of Monufiya, Gharbiya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Damietta and Dakahliya

4-The Suez Canal region, which includes the governorates of Sinai, Port Said, Ismailia, Sharkiya and part of the northern Red Sea governorate

5-Northern Upper Egypt region, which includes the governorates of Beni Suef, Menia, Fayyoum and part of the northern Red Sea governorate

6-Assiut region, which includes the governorates of Assiut and the New Valley

7-The southern Upper Egypt region, which includes the governorates of Sohag, Qena, Aswan and the southern part of the Red Sea governorate

It is assigned to coordinate among the different governorates and enhance cooperation between the governorates and the different ministries to guarantee a better fulfillment of localities' duties.

The Supreme council for local administration was established under law no. 124 of 1960 to supervise performance of the local councils.

The council is headed by the prime minister and joined by minister of local administration, governors and heads of local councils.

-To study laws and decisions on developing the local administration

-To evaluate the governorates' performance on meeting goals of the State national plan

-To coordinate between the governorates and the different ministries

-To cooperate with the Cabinet in fulfilling its local administration duties

Since mid 1990s, the State has given a special attention to enhancing the local development, the efforts which resulted in the following:

I: Adoption of national development programs to develop basic services in the villages and districts as well as spreading crafts industries at urban and rural areas.

Foremost among these programs are the national program for integrated rural development, Upper Egypt development program, slams development program, etc…

II: Giving a special attention to certain areas to allow more flow of investments and a faster development in these areas.

III: Setting up criteria of picking up leaderships in government machineries and local units based on principles of efficiency and organizational capabilities.