Angers received its communal charter from Louis XI of France in February 1475, but free elections for the mayor and aldermen were not guaranteed before 1484, following a decision by Charles VIII. Since then, 75 successive mayors have governed Angers.
Angers was until the Second World War mainly governed by centrist and republican mayors. Since 1977, all the successive mayors have been members of the Socialist Party, whereas the Maine-et-Loire department has always been governed by moderate right-wing parties. Following Jean-Claude Antonini's resignation in 2012, the current mayor is Frédéric Béatse.
Angers is divided into eight cantons; most of them include parts of Angers plus some surrounding communes. These cantons are not administrative entities and only serve to elect the members of the department council. The INSEE, the French institute for statistics, divides the commune of Angers into twelve sectors. Depending on their social and economic issues, some of them can have priority for financial assistance and urban regeneration. In Angers, five are considered as priority sectors, three as sensitive urban areas, and one as an urban free zone.
Being the chef-lieu of Maine-et-Loire, Angers is the seat of a prefecture. It is also the seat of an appeal court and of several regional or local institutes, concerning for example, customs, education or science. Angers also has several other courts of justice as well as a prison.
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