The Office of the President has announced that following wide public consultations organised by the Local Government Department on the subject of elections to District Councils, as well as bipartisan consensus at the national political level, and taking into account the costs of running Councils in each of the 26 districts, it has been decided that the Districts will now be grouped into administrative regions. Seven Regional Councils will be established for the time being, representing one Council for each of North, South, East, and West Mahé, two Councils for Central Mahé, and one Council for the Inner Islands.

By bipartisan agreement, it has also been decided that there will be no elections to the Regional Councils in 2018. Council Members will instead be appointed in accordance within an agreed bipartisan framework, and membership of each Regional Council will reflect the current political balance in the National Assembly.

District Administration Offices will continue to operate, but as executive arms of the respective Regional Councils.

The empowerment of communities through elected Councils still remains the long term objective of Government, as advocated by President Danny Faure in his State of the Nation Address in February 2017.