case the Commune was finally suppressed, the new national government preferred to divide Paris into several distinct mayorships (one for each arrondissement) to prevent the city's total loss in the event of further revolts. Thus, for all but 14 months from 1794 to 1977, Paris was the only commune of France without a mayor, and had less autonomy than even the smallest village. For most of the time from 1800 to 1977 (except briefly in 1848 and 1870–71), it was controlled directly by the departmental prefect (the prefect of the Seine before 1968 and prefect of Paris after 1968). In 1975 Parliament passed a bill re-establishing an elected mayor for Paris, beginning in 1977. The bill was signed by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing on 31 December 1975. In March 1977, after the first formal municipal election, former Prime Minister Jacques Chirac was chosen as Mayor of Paris, a position he held until 1995, when was elected President of France. List of officeholders Notes † Died in office See also Administration of Paris References A list of provosts of the merchants (deleted from this article in 2017) is found in La Grande Encyclopédie, volume 25, page 1063, published in 1899. See scan of the full text at Gallica: . The list of mayors since 1789 comes from Paris city hall's website. See Historique des maires de Paris. Paris Mayors