A prefect in France is the state's representative in a department or region. Subprefects are responsible for the subdivisions of departments, known as arrondissements. The office of a prefect is known as a prefecture and that of a subprefect as a subprefecture. Regional prefects are ex officio the departmental prefects of the regional prefecture.
Pascal Mailhos, then prefect of the Haute-Garonne department, in Toulouse in 2014
Jean-Luc Videlaine, then prefect of the Finistère department, in dress uniform at Bastille Day 2015 in Brest
Uniform hat of a French prefect during the Second World War
In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government under the national level, between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety-six departments are in metropolitan France, with an additional five constituting overseas departments, which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 333 arrondissements and 2,054 cantons. These last two levels of government have no political autonomy, instead serving as the administrative basis for the local organisation of police, fire departments as well as, in certain cases, elections.
Geometrical proposition rejected
The three Algerian departments in 1848
