Apart from their role as organizational units in relation to certain aspects of the administration ofpublic services andjustice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve asconstituencies for theelection of members of the representative assemblies established in each of France's territorial departments (departmental councils, formerly general councils). For this reason, such elections were known in France as "cantonal elections", until 2015 when their name was changed to "departmental elections" to match the departmental councils' name.
As of 2015, there were 2,054 cantons in France.[1]
Most of them group together a number ofcommunes (the lowest administrative division of the French Republic), although larger communes may be included in more than one canton, since the cantons – in marked contrast to the communes, which have between more than two million inhabitants (Paris) and just one person (Rochefourchat) – are intended to be roughly equal in size of population.
The role of thecanton is, essentially, to provide a framework fordepartmental elections. Eachcanton elects a woman and a man to represent it at theconseil départemental du département – or departmental council for thedepartment, which is the principal administrative division of the French Republic.
In urban areas, a singlecommune generally includes severalcantons. Conversely, in rural areas, acanton may comprise several smallercommunes. In the latter case, administrative services, thegendarmerie headquarters for example, are often situated in the principal town (chef-lieu) of thecanton, although there are exceptions, such ascantonsGaillon-Campagne andSarreguemines-Campagne, which have in common a "chief-town" which does not belong to eithercanton.
For statistical (INSEE) purposes, the twentyarrondissements of Paris – the administrative subdivisions of that city – are sometimes consideredcantons, but they serve no greater electoral function.[2]
Thecantons were created in 1790 at the same time as thedépartements by theRevolutionary Committee for the Division of Territory (Comité de division). They were more numerous than today (between 40 and 60 to eachdépartement).Cantons were, at first, grouped into what were calleddistricts. After the abolition of thedistrict in 1800, they were reorganized by theConsulate intoarrondissements. The number ofcantons was then drastically reduced (between 30 and 50 units) by theLoi du 8 pluviôse an IX (28 January 1801), or the "Law for the Reduction of the Number of District Courts", orLoi portant réduction du nombre de justices de paix in French. Thedépartementprefects were told by the government to group thecommunes within newly establishedcantons. Thedépartement lists, once approved by the government, were published in theBulletin des lois in 1801 and 1802; these lists were the basis of the administrative divisions of France from then until 2015, althoughcantons with small populations were eliminated and newcantons created in areas of strong demographic growth. On the whole, their number increased appreciably.
In May 2013 a law was adopted that reduced the number of cantons drastically.[3] This law came into effect at theFrench departmental elections in March 2015. Before the cantonal reform, there were 4,032 cantons; afterwards there were 2,054, with the cantons in Martinique and Guyana abolished.[4][5] The 2013 reform law also changed the representation of the cantons in thedepartmental councils: each canton is now represented by a man and a woman.[3]
The number ofcantons varies from onedépartement to another. TheTerritoire de Belfort has the fewest at 9, whileNord has the most at 41. The average figure is about 21.[6]
