A deelgemeente (, literally ''part-municipality'') or section ( French) is a subdivision of a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and, until March 2014, in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

as well.

Belgium

Each Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in Belgium that existed as a separate entity on 1 January 1961 but no longer existed as such after 1 January 1977 as the result of a merger is considered a ''section'' or ''deelgemeente'' within most municipalities. In addition, the City of Brussels is also divided in four ''sections'' that correspond to the communes that existed before their merger in 1921. The term ''deelgemeente'' is used in Dutch language, Dutch and the term ''section'' in French to refer to such a subdivision of a municipality anywhere in Belgium, municipalities having been fusion of the Belgian municipalities, merged throughout the country in the 1970s. Herefor, ''sections'' or ''deelgemeenten'' usually were independent municipalities before the fusions in the 1970s. In French, the term ''section'' is sometimes confused with ''commune'' (for: municipality), especially in larger cities like Charleroi and Mons as the ''sections'' composing the municipality used to be individual ''communes'' before the 1970s. It is therefore not rare to hear that Mons comprises "19 ''communes''" when in fact Mons is a single municipality (''commune'') divided into 19 ''sections''. In addition, there is the term ''ancienne commune'' (former municipality), which has no official existence. A ''section'' or ''deelgemeente'' does not bear any administrative powers. However, the Constitution of Belgium, Belgian Constitution provides the possibility of implementing ''districts'' for any municipality with at least 100,000 inhabitants, giving ''de facto'' political and administrative jurisdiction to the sections. Only the municipality of Antwerp has implemented nine Districts of Antwerp, ''districts'', Belgium's lowest level of administration.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, ''deelgemeenten'' were administrative divisions that could be instituted by any municipality. The city of Amsterdam was the first to do this. In the early 1980s, the municipality was divided into fifteen deelgemeenten. This amount was decreased to eight in 2010. Seven of these were officially called ''stadsdeel''. Rotterdam followed in the 1990s and was divided into fourteen ''deelgemeenten''.Deelgemeenten
''Deelgemeenten'' had their own mayor, the ''deelgemeentevoorzitter'', their own aldermen, ''deelgemeentewethouders'', and their own elected assembly, the ''deelgemeenteraad''. ''Deelgemeenten'' were abolished in March 2014, after the Dutch municipal elections, 2014, 2014 municipal elections. Since 2014, districts of Amsterdam have a ''bestuurscommissie'' (literally "governance commission"), and the ''deelgemeenten'' of Rotterdam are now called ''gebieden'' (literally "areas").

References

{{Dutch decentral government Sub-municipalities of Belgium, Boroughs of the Netherlands Types of administrative division Dutch words and phrases Fifth-level administrative divisions by country