San Rafael is a town and commune of the Talca Province

Talca Province

Talca Province is one of four provinces of the central Chilean region of Maule . Its capital is the city of Talca.-Administration:As a province, Talca is a second-level administrative division of Chile, governed by a provincial governor who is appointed by the president.-Communes:The province...

 in the Maule Region

Maule Region

The VII Maule Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region takes its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a basin of about 20,600 km2...

 of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. The town serves as the communal capital.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 of the National Statistics Institute

National Statistics Institute (Chile)

The National Statistics Institute of Chile is a state-run organization of the Government of Chile, created in the second half of the 19th century and tasked with performing a general census of population and housing, then collecting, producing and publishing official demographic statistics of...

, San Rafael spans an area of 263.5 sqkm and has 7,674 inhabitants (3,903 men and 3,771 women). Of these, 3,482 (45.4%) lived in urban area

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

s and 4,192 (54.6%) in rural areas. The population grew by 6.5% (465 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, San Rafael is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council

Municipal council

A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...

, headed by an alcalde

Alcalde

Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

 who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Patricio Poblete Yáñez (UDI).

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, San Rafael is represented in the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies of Chile

The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....

 by Pablo Lorenzini (PDC

Christian Democratic Party

Christian democratic parties are those political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social teaching, and it continues to be influential in Europe and...

) and Pedro Pablo Alvarez-Salamanca (UDI) as part of the 38th electoral district, (together with Curepto

Curepto

Curepto is a town and commune in the Chilean Province of Talca, located in the VII Maule Region. The commune spans an area of .-Culture:The town has many examples of Chilean rural colonial architecture. Its parish church is a quintessential example of a traditional religious building in the...

, Constitución

Constitución, Chile

Constitución is a seaside resort, industrial city, minor port and commune in Chile, located in the Maule Region, Talca Province.-History:-8.8 magnitude 2010 earthquake:...

, Empedrado, Pencahue

Pencahue

Pencahue is a town and commune in Chile, located in Talca Province, in the seventh region of Maule. The commune spans and area of .Also there are another three places called Pencahue, near to San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, Sexta Región, Chile...

, Maule, San Clemente

San Clemente, Chile

San Clemente is a city and commune administered by the municipality of San Clemente, located in the Talca Province of Chile's Maule Region.-Demographics:...

, Pelarco

Pelarco

Pelarco is a town and commune in Talca Province, Maule Region of Chile. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:According to data from the 2002 Census of Population and Housing, Pelarco had 7,266 inhabitants; of these, 1,822 lived in urban areas and 5,444 in rural areas. At that time, there...

 and Río Claro). The commune is represented in the Senate

Senate of Chile

The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...

by Juan Antonio Coloma Correa (UDI) and Andrés Zaldívar Larraín (PDC) as part of the 10th senatorial constituency (Maule-North).

External links

Municipality of San Rafael