 In 1996, a massive reform of the administrative and political divisions of Senegal was voted by the Parliament of Senegal.The commune of Dakar, whose population approached 1 million inhabitants, was deemed too large and too populated to be properly managed by a central municipality, and so on August 30, 1996 Dakar was divided into 19 "communes d'arrondissement".These "communes d'arrondissement" were given extensive powers, and are very much like regular communes.