arrondissements

An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands.

Europe

France

The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements'', which may be roughly translated into English as districts. The capital of an arrondissement is called a subprefecture. When an arrondissement contains the prefecture (capital) of the department, that prefecture is the capital of the arrondissement, acting both as a prefecture and as a subprefecture. Arrondissements are further divided into cantons and communes.

Municipal arrondissement

A municipal arrondissement (, pronounced ), is a subdivision of the commune, used in the three largest cities: Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. It functions as an even lower administrative division, with its own mayor. Although usually referred to simply as an "arrondissement," they should not be confused with departmental arrondissements, which are groupings of communes within one ''département''. The official translation into English is "district".

Belgium

Belgium is a federalized country which geographically consists of three regions, of which only Flanders (Flemish Region) and Wallonia (Walloon Region) are subdivided into five provinces each; the Brussels-Capital Region is neither a province nor is it part of one.

In Belgium, there are administrative, judicial and electoral arrondissements. These may or may not relate to identical geographical areas.

* The 43 administrative arrondissements are an administrative level between the municipalities and the provinces.
* Belgium has 12 judicial arrondissements.
* For the elections of the Parliament of Wallonia, 13 electoral arrondissements (or grouped arrondissements) are used as electoral districts.
** Until 2002, the electoral districts for the Chamber of Representatives were electoral arrondissements; at present these are provincial constituencies and one for Brussels-Capital. The electoral districts Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde and Leuven still existed until 2012.
** Electoral arrondissements were also used for the Flemish Parliament elections, until 2004 when they were changed to provincial electoral districts.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands an ''arrondissement'' is a judicial jurisdiction.

Switzerland

Subdivisions of the canton of Bern include districts since 2010, which are called ''arrondissements administratifs'' in French.

Post-Soviet states

In some post-Soviet states, there are cities that are divided into municipal raioni similarly to how some French cities are divided into municipal arrondissements (see e.g. Raions of cities in Ukraine, Municipal divisions of Russia, Administrative divisions of Minsk).

Francophone Africa

Most nations in Africa that have been colonised by France have retained the arrondissement administrative structure. These are normally subunits of a department, and may either contain or be coequal with communes (towns). In Mali the arrondissement is a subunit of a cercle, while in some places arrondissements are essentially subdistricts of large cities.

*Each of Senegal's departments is subdivided into arrondissements. Dakar is further subdivided into arrondissements; see Arrondissements of Senegal.
*Between 1962 and 2002, each of Niger

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