Deelgemeente

A deelgemeente (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdeːɫɣəˌmeːntə]) (literally: part-municipality) is a subdivision of a gemeente (municipality) in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Belgium

Each municipality of the region of Flanders which existed as a separate entity on the first of January 1961, and no longer existed as such after the first of January 1977 is considered a deelgemeente within most municipalities.

In general these deelgemeenten are not a level of administration. Only in the municipality of Antwerp they are the lowest level of administration and are called districts.

The term deelgemeente is used in Dutch to refer to such a subdivision of a municipality anywhere in Belgium, municipalities having been merged throughout the country in the 1970s. In English (and French) there is no directly equivalent term, and deelgemeente is not normally used when talking about former municipalities in Wallonia or the Brussels Capital Region. In French, the term Ancienne commune (former municipality) or Section de commune is generally used.

Netherlands

Deelgemeenten can be found in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. In Amsterdam 7 of the 8 deelgemeenten are called stadsdeel.

A deelgemeente has its own mayor, the deelgemeentevoorzitter, its own aldermen, deelgemeentewethouders, and its own elected assembly, the deelgemeenteraad. The amount of deelgemeenten in Amsterdam has been decreased in 2010 from 15 to 8.