Presidents of French departments current

The departmental councils ( ; singular, ''conseil départemental'' ) of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

are representative assemblies elected by

universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...

in 98 of the country's 101

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

. Prior to the 2015 French departmental elections they were known as general councils (''conseils généraux''; singular, ''conseil général'').

History

The Law of 22 December 1789 required the establishment of an assembly in each department, known as the council of the department. This law was repealed on 4 December 1793; it was restored as the "law on the division of the territory of the Republic and its administration" on 17 February 1800, in which, "General Council of the departments" were formed. At this time, the name "General Council" was also used by town and district councils. The members of the general council were not elected until 1833; they were first elected by

universal manhood suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the s ...

on 3 July 1848. The first female president of a department council was Évelyne Baylet in

Tarn-et-Garonne Tarn-et-Garonne (; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn (river), Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its n ...

in 1970. Until the passing of the Law of 2 March 1982 on the rights and freedoms of communes, departments, and

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

, the

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

in each department was not only the state's representative in that department but also embodied in his or her person the department's executive; since 1982, the latter function has been transferred to the president of the departmental council. Law 175 of 26 February 2008 states that there must be at least one candidate of each gender in all departmental council elections.

Notes and references

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References

{{Departmental Councils of France Defunct government institutions 2015 disestablishments in France Organizations disestablished in 2015

History

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References