Allier

The most populous commune is Montluçon; the prefecture Moulins is the third-most populous. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:[6]

The department also includes the spa towns Bourbon-l'Archambault, Néris-les-Bains and Vichy.

Bourbonnais bocage covers most of the western and central parts of the department (including the Forest of Tronçais), followed by the Bourbonnais Sologne in the east north-east, the Bourbonnais Mountain (near Vichy) which is the highest point of Bourbonnais together with Montoncel (peaking at 1,287 metres), and finally in the south of the department, the Bourbonnais Limagne, which extends from Varennes to Gannat, and is the breadbasket of the department.

The Bourbonnais Bocage

To the north and just over 500 metres above sea level, the Bourbonnais Bocage occupies one-third of the department, with two parts: the centre and the west (for the part between the Val de Cher and western boundaries of the territory). The bocage is especially remarkable for its rich forests and woodlands including the Forest of Tronçais but also the forests of Moladier Bagnolet, Civrais, Soulongis, Grosbois, Dreuille, Lespinasse and Suave.

Almost all of the southern area consists of Combrailles which is sometimes called High Bourbonnais, in an area that goes beyond the departmental boundaries of Creuse and Puy-de-Dôme. This area of the department rises to 778 metres at Bosse. The rivers Sioule, Bouble, and Cher have carved the most picturesque gorges in Allier.

The Bourbonnais Sologne

To the east, between the Val d'Allier and the borders of Nièvre and Saône-et-Loire, the Bourbonnais Sologne has a nice balance between pastures, crops, woods and ponds: the balance between agriculture and semi-wilderness constituting a very favorable setting for fauna and flora.

The Bourbonnais Mountains

In its southern extension, the Bourbonnais Mountain rises from the Puy Saint-Ambroise (442 metres) near Saint-Léon and then extends to the massif of Assise and the Black Woods at the edge of Puy-de-Dôme and Loire which is marked by the Puy de Montoncel (1,287 metres) – the highest point in Allier.

The Bourbonnais Limagne

Commonly grouped under the name of Val d'Allier, the Limagne and Forterre extend on both sides of the river between Vichy and Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule with an essential quality of fertility. Limogne, together with Sioule and Allier, is part of the Gannat / Escurolles / Saint-Pourçain triangle while Forterre covers the Canton of Varennes-sur-Allier ending near Jaligny.

Watercourses

• to the west: the Cher
• in the centre: the Allier and its tributary the Sioule
• to the east the Loire and its tributary the Besbre

A transition zone in the middle of the country, Allier is actually a free zone between north and south. The department is wide open to Atlantic influences and enjoys a mild and humid climate dominated by westerly winds which helps a little to differentiate it from other parts of Auvergne. The weather variances coincide with the diversity of Bourbonnais territory such as: flat regions, low altitude Bourbonnais Sologne and large floodplains, the hill country, the average altitude of 300 to 600 metres, the central part of the department, and the semi-mountainous southern townships bordering the Combraille and Forez between 700 and 1,200 metres.

There are two periods of maximum precipitation in June and October and a minimum in January and February with average of 694 millimetres in Montluçon (altitude 207 metres), 763 mm in Moulins (245 m), 778 mm in Vichy (251 m), 791 mm in Lapalisse (285 m) and nearly 1,200 mm in Assisi (1,050 m). As noted Atlantic winds are dominant from the west, northwest, or southwest. The influence of topography, especially in the valleys of Cher and Allier, also contributes to the south and north variance.

Comparison of local Meteorological data with other cities in France[10]

Town	Sunshine (hours/yr)	Rain (mm/yr)	Snow (days/yr)	Storm (days/yr)	Fog (days/yr)
National average	1,973	770	14	22	40
Vichy[11]	1,862	780	18	26	35
Paris	1,661	637	12	18	10
Nice	2,724	767	1	29	1
Strasbourg	1,693	665	29	29	56
Brest	1,605	1,211	7	12	75

Valérie Hatsch is prefect of Allier since 28 March 2022.[14]

Jean-Luc Marx, the prefect of Lot, was named the prefect of Allier on 1 June 2011, replacing Pierre Monzani who was appointed Prefect of Seine-et-Marne on 25 May 2011.

Monzani had been prefect of Allier since 14 January 2009. Born on 12 May 1958 in Villerupt (Meurthe-et-Moselle), he holds a civil service agrégation in history and a DEA in history and civilization. A former student of the École Normale Supérieure (Saint-Cloud) and of École nationale d'administration (ENA), since August 2006 he has been director of INHES (National Institute of Advanced Security Studies).[15]

After 2020 Senate elections, the two senators of Allier are Bruno Rojouan and Claude Malhuret.[16]

In the Senate elections in 2008 the left took one of the two Senate seats in Allier formerly held by the right. Mireille Schurch, PCF Mayor of Lignerolles, was elected:

• Gérard Dériot DVD
• Mireille Schurch PCF

The elections of 2007 returned three Socialists (Bernard Lesterlin for Montluçon, Jean Mallot for Saint-Pourçain, and Guy Chambefort for Moulins) and one PRG (Gérard Charasse for Vichy).

The current representatives are:

The current President of the Departmental Council is Claude Riboulet, elected in 2017.[18][19] In the 2021 departmental election, the Departmental Council of Allier was elected as follows:[20]

In the local elections of March 2008, Allier department was won by a majority of the left. The URB (Republican Union for Bourbonnais, right) had headed the department between 2001 and 2008, with the last year with only one vote majority. From 2008 the left coalition was in control also with a majority of one vote (10 PC, 6 PS, 2 PRG, 18 seats in total), facing 17 councilors from the URB.

The department was distinguished by communist votes in early voting which continued until after the Second World War with the two major political parties of the left being the PCF and the SFIO which have now become the Socialist Party.

The small town of Commentry has the distinction of being the first town in France[21] to elect a socialist mayor in 1882: Christophe Thivrier. Another local figure, Pierre Brizon, an MP in 1910, was typically a member for sharecroppers.[22]

Earlier, Ledru-Rollin achieved a very good result in 1848 (14%) with Democratic and socialist candidates in the following year (44% of the vote, against 35% for all of France).[23] Similarly, resistance to the coup of 2 December 1851 was important after an attempt to support the uprising in June 1849.[24] Republicans were in the majority in 1876 and held all six parliamentary seats.[21] After neighbouring results of 15% of enrolled voters from 1893 to 1906 the Socialists rose to 31% of enrolled votes (42% of those cast) in 1910 and maintained this in 1914[25]

Allier remains a land of rural communism (still 14.66% in the 2004 regional elections – the second best result for the party after Somme) in a sometimes difficult cohabitation with the Socialist Party.

For the causes of their success it may be noted that historically Allier has been a department where vast properties were combined into sharecropping. Sharecropping only spread in the 15th century[26] and was not disturbed by the sale of national assets to the Revolution.[27] In the 19th century large properties (100 hectares or more) occupied about half of the land, and even more than 70% in the north of the department. In the south, small properties dominate.[27]

Sharecropping continued as a form of land development and it involved 40% of the land in 1892 (only 7% overall for France).[28] Adverse conditions made sharecroppers promote the creation of rural unions between 1904 and 1911 (the third greatest number per department in France after Hérault and Landes). Despite poor results the mobilization was important and promoted the election of left-wing candidates.[29]

• List of senators of Allier
• Communes of the Allier department

In 2019 the quantity of dwellings in the department which were second homes was 7.3%.[34] The table below shows the main communes of Allier with second homes and which exceed 10% of total housing.

The department has attracted many foreigners, English, Belgian, Swiss, and Dutch, and they have acquired many second homes. Therefore many communes have become "European", such as Pouzy-Mésangy, which today has many English and Swiss residents.

The Conseil Départemental of Allier co-operates with the following foreign administrative units:[36]

• Niafunké (Mali) since 1988.
• Khemisset (Morocco) since 2009.
• Övörkhangai (Mongolia) since 2000.
• Cluj (Romania) since 2002.
• M'bour Department (Senegal) since 2016.
• Nguékhokh (Senegal) since 2002.

Allier is traversed by the border between Occitan and French.[37]

For a long period the people of Allier did not speak standard French but one of the following local languages:

• Bourbonnais: Dialect oïl, north of a line from Montluçon to Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule to Lapalisse
• Auvergnat: (a dialect of Occitan) in the extreme south
• the area between the two, sometimes called Bourbon d'oc is part of the Occitan Crescent,[38] an area of mixing of French and Occitan considered by most linguists as Occitan with French pronunciation. Some[39] consider the speech of the Crescent to be a full Occitan dialect and use the term Marchois.

Qualifications:

• Note that in the south-east of the department (notably in Forterre[40] and the Bourbonnais Mountain[41]) the influence of Francoprovencal arises.
• Similarly, in the north-west (and especially in the old part of the Bourbonnais department of Cher to Saint-Amand-Montrond), the Bourbon dialects are close to the Berrichon dialect.