Paris Centre
Paris Centre, officially the 1st sector of Paris, is an administrative division of Paris encompassing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th arrondissements of the city. Historically, the boundary of these arrondissements roughly followed the line of the former city walls of Charles V and Louis XIII.
History
Electoral sectors (1975–1982)
In 1975, the arrondissements of Paris were used to define electoral sectors for municipal elections. Until 1982, Paris had 18 sectors for 20 arrondissements; two sectors already paired arrondissements:- the 1st and 4th arrondissements ;
- the 2nd and 3rd arrondissements.
2016–2017: Merger proposal and law
The law was passed by the Senate in November and the National Assembly in February 2017, and promulgated on 28 February 2017.
The reform did not abolish the first four arrondissements, but grouped them into a single administrative and electoral sector with one arrondissement council and one arrondissement mayor shared across the four, similar to the sector system in Marseille. This was done as demographic changes had meant that the first four arrondissements were overrepresented on the Council of Paris by over 20% in terms of population per seat, and the reform aimed to rebalance representation. The new entity had 101,764 inhabitants and eight seats, making it one seat per 12,720 inhabitants, 7% underrepresentation.
The overall number of seats on the Council of Paris remained unchanged; Paris was reorganized into 17 sectors superimposed on the existing 20 arrondissements, and sector numbering skips from 1 to 5.
2018: Vote on the town hall site and sector name
In October 2018, residents were consulted to choose both:- the location of the merged town hall ; and
- the name of the new sector, among Paris Centre, Cœur de Paris, Premiers arrondissements de Paris, and Paris 1 2 3 4.