Pirque () is a commune of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in Cordillera Province,

Santiago Metropolitan Region Santiago Metropolitan Region ( es, link=no, Región Metropolitana de Santiago) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions. It is the country's only landlocked administrative region and contains the nation's capital, Santiago. ...

; it is located 2.8 kilometers southeast of Puente Alto and 21.3 kilometers south-southeast of the center of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, wh ...

. It is situated at the base of the Cajón del Maipo, and is the home of the Concha y Toro wine company.

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of the National Statistics Institute, Pirque spans an area of and has 16,565 inhabitants (8,384 men and 8,181 women). Of these, 9,651 (58.3%) lived in

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...

s and 6,914 (41.7%) in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

s. The population grew by 45.7% (5,197 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Stats

*Population: 20,518 (2006 projection) *Average annual household income: US$21,537 ( PPP, 2006) *Population below poverty line: 9.1% (2006)

Administration

As a commune, Pirque is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law. ...

administered by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

, headed by an

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer of th ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2012-2016 alcalde is Cristian Balmaceda Undurraga ( RN). The communal council has the following members: * Carlos Miranda Dinamarca (IND) * Hilda Espinoza Cavieres (IND) * Patricio Domínguez Warrington ( PS) * Lorena Berrios Gonzalez ( RN) * Pablo Ulloa Riquelme (IND) * María Mujica Vizcaya (IND) Within the

electoral divisions of Chile Chile has two distinct electoral division systems: * To elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate, Chile is divided into several electoral divisions, namely electoral districts and senatorial constituencies. * To elect members of t ...

, Pirque is represented in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

by Mr. Osvaldo Andrade ( PS) and Mr. Leopoldo Pérez ( RN) as part of the 29th electoral district, (together with Puente Alto,

San José de Maipo San José de Maipo is the name of a commune in Chile and the city within it, located in the Cajón del Maipo, in Cordillera Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region, some 48 kilometers south-east of capital Santiago, bordered on the east by Argen ...

and La Pintana). The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

by Soledad Alvear Valenzuela ( PDC) and Ena Von Baer ( UDI) as part of the 8th senatorial constituency (Santiago-East).

References

External links

Portal Pirque
Community website Pirque {{Authority control Communes of Chile Populated places established in 1887 Populated places in Cordillera Province