The political system in 1918 was determined by the Constitution of Austria-Hungary and its by-laws. As of November 1, the state executive authority was represented in Lviv by the Governor's Administration, the Police Directorate, the Post Directorate, the Treasury Regional Directorate, the Directorate of the State Railways, the Directorate of Forests and State Property. The judicial power was represented by the Higher Provincial, Provincial, District, Industrial, and Commercial Courts. The military power was provided by the commandant of the city. The local self-government was represented by the Galician Diet which had not functioned since 1914; in the beginning of November only its executive branch, the Provincial Department, functioned, as well as the Provisional Council of the city of Lviv (100 persons) which adhered to the pro-Polish position and expected the city to join the Polish state (with the exception of Rev. Teodoziy Lezhohubskyi, a Ukrainian).

The Ukrainians took power in Lviv by seizing state institutions and appointing their own authorities: Ivan Popovych became the director of the postal service, Bohdan Bulyk and Mykhaylo Rurym headed the Treasury Department, Yulian Kaliuzhniatskyi headed the prosecutor's office, and Stepan Vytvytskyi became the Lviv district commissioner. In mid-November, 49 districts of Eastern Galicia found themselves under the ZUNR state administration. The courts did not function during the fighting, though the chairman of the Supreme Provincial Court Adolf Czerwiński and other leaders remained in their positions. The police chief Josef Reinländer refused to perform his duties on behalf of the Ukrainian authorities, and on November 2 he was interned in his own apartment, while his duties were taken over by Stepan Baran. On November 3, the commandant of the city's garrison, general Rudolf Pfeffer, refused to hand over the command and the right of military possessions to the Ukrainian National Council. A new commandant, Mykola Marynovych, was then appointed.

The Ukrainian National Council removed the managers of the banks from their duties, but the financial institutions of the city and the region were not nationalized. The communal services in the city hall did not function, because the Ukrainians took control of the building. Their representatives gathered at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, negotiated with the Ukrainians and agreed to establish a joint conciliation committee.

The work of many institutions was destabilized. About 300 prisoners escaped from a temporary prison, 294 persons escaped from the Brygidky prison. The escapes took place under the guise of "liberation." The prison personnel, fearing a reprisal, left their service.

In order to legitimize its power, the UNC took legal action: created the State Secretariat as the supreme governing body (November 9), adopted the "Provisional Fundamental Law" (Constitution) (November 13), as well as the Laws "On the Temporary Organization of Courts and Judicial Power" (November 21) and "On the Temporary Administration of the Regions of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic" (November 16).

On November 23, the Polish Provisional Administrative Committee in Lviv abolished the legal acts issued by the ZUNR bodies and resumed the validity of Austrian laws and regulations in Lviv.