The Gozo Civic Council () was a short-lived statutory local government in the island of
Gozo
Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...
,
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
that was elected by the people of Gozo.
[Caruana, Abigail Marie, ''THE GOZO CIVIC COUNCIL - An Experiment of Devolution in Gozo'' (Malta, 2010)]
Brief history
The Council met for the first time on 10 July 1961
and following the facultative non-binding
1973 Gozo Civic Council referendum and before the conclusion of the fourth legislature, it was dissolved by an Act of
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
on 4 December 1973.
Elections were held every three years.
The first election was held in June 1960, the second on 13 December 1964, the third in June 1967, with the last election taking place in June 1970.
Composition and electoral system
The Gozo Civic Council was made up of fourteen councillors, one from each of the fourteen District Committees in Gozo, together with up to three other councillors that could be co-opted by the Council.
The elections of the Gozo Civic Council took a two-stepped approach. First, elections were held at a district level, with voters electing six members to sit on a district committee for each of the fourteen districts of Gozo,
namely the regional capital of
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
and the villages of
Il-Fontana,
Għajnsielem
Għajnsielem (; meaning "Spring of Sielem") is a municipality on the southeastern coast of the island of Gozo in Malta, including the entire island of Comino. It has a population of 3,200 residents (as of March 2014), and is the first Gozitan vil ...
,
L-Għarb,
L-Għasri,
Ta' Kerċem
Taw, tav, or taf is the twenty-second and last letter of the Semitic abjads, including Arabic ''tāʾ'' , Aramaic ''taw'' 𐡕, Hebrew ''tav'' , Phoenician ''tāw'' 𐤕, and Syriac ''taw'' ܬ. In Arabic, it also gives rise to the derived ...
,
Il-Munxar,
In-Nadur,
Il-Qala
Qala () is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit of Malta, on the island of Gozo, with a population of 1,929 as of September 2019. Nearby is Ħondoq ir-Rummien, a coastline with salt pans and caves.
Etymology
The name Qala derives from ...
,
San Lawrenz
San Lawrenz is an administrative unit of Malta, on the island of Gozo. Its name is derived from Lawrence of Rome who is the patron saint for the locality. It has a population of 748, as of March 2014.
The Dwejra nature reserve is administrative ...
,
Ta' Sannat,
Ix-Xagħra,
Ix-Xewkija
Xewkija (, , pronounced and written as Casal Sceuchia) is an administrative unit and village of Malta, on the island of Gozo. The population of Xewkija is 3,300 as of March 2014.
History
Xewkija, which is between Għajnsielem and the main town ...
and
Iż-Żebbuġ.
Thereafter, one of the councillors elected by the voters in the aforementioned election was to be elected to represent the district by each district committee.
Meeting place
The Council used to convene at the
Banca Giuratale in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
.
Sub-committees
Besides the fourteen District Committees, the Council also created a number of Sub-Committees dealing with a specific sector. These were as follows:
*Finance Committee (since inception)
*Road Committee (since inception)
*Health Committee (since inception)
*General Purposes Committee (since inception)
*Street Naming Committee (since second legislature)
Occasionally, the Council also established other ad-hoc sub-committees of a temporary nature that were dedicated to certain events, such as that the sub-committee formed in 1963 that was tasked with the anti-pest campaign that the Council intended to embark on.
References
{{reflist
Gozo
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
Government of Malta