Counties were ruled by "apskrities viršininkas" (officially translated as "governor") who was appointed by the central government in Vilnius. Their primary duty was to ensure that the municipalities obey the laws of Lithuania and the constitution. They did not have great powers vested in them, and so it was suggested that 10 counties were too many for Lithuania (the smallest county had only four municipalities). There were proposals to replace the counties with four or five "lands", a new administrative unit, based on the ethnographic regions of Lithuania and centered on the country's five major cities.