Freirina is a 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...

an commune and town in Huasco Province

Huasco Province

Huasco Province is one of three provinces of the northern Chilean region of Atacama . Its capital is the city of Vallenar.-Geography and demography:...

, Atacama Region

Atacama Region

The Atacama Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. It comprises three provinces, Chañaral, Copiapó and Huasco. It is bordered to the north by Antofagasta, to the south by Coquimbo, to east with Provinces of Catamarca, La Rioja and San Juan of Argentina, and to west with...

. The commune spans an area of 3577.7 sqkm.

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...

 by 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...

, Freirina had 5,666 inhabitants; of these, 3,469 (61.2%) 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 2,107 (38.8%) in rural areas. At that time, there were 2,800 men and 2,866 women. The population grew by 8.5% (445 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Freirina 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 Roberto Bruzzone Galeb.

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Freirina 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 Mr. Alberto Robles (PRSD

Social Democrat Radical Party

The Social Democratic Radical Party is a social democratic party in Chile.The party is a member of Socialist International....

) and Mr. Giovanni Calderón (UDI) as part of the 6th electoral district, (together with Caldera

Caldera, Chile

Caldera is a port city in the Copiapó Province of the Atacama Region in northern Chile. It has an excellent harbor, protected by breakwaters, being the port city for the productive mining district centering on Copiapó to which it is connected by the first railroad constructed in Chile.-Geography...

, Tierra Amarilla

Tierra Amarilla, Chile

Tierra Amarilla is a Chilean commune and city in Copiapó Province, Atacama Region. According to the 2002 census, the commune population was 12,888 and has an area of 11,191 km².-Demographics:...

, Vallenar

Vallenar

Vallenar is a city and commune in Atacama Region, Chile. It is the capital of the Huasco Province and is located in the valley of the Huasco River. Vallenar has 47,000 inhabitants. Its main activities are farming and mining...

, Huasco

Huasco, Chile

Huasco is a Chilean city and commune, in the Huasco Province, Atacama Region.The port city of Huasco is located 50 km west of Vallenar and close to the town of Huasco Bajo, which lies on the southern bank of the Huasco River and only a few km from its mouth...

 and Alto del Carmen

Alto del Carmen

Alto del Carmen is a Chilean commune and village in Huasco Province, Atacama Region. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Alto del Carmen had 4,840 inhabitants , making the commune an entirely rural area...

). 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 Isabel Allende Bussi (PS

Socialist Party of Chile

The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...

) and Baldo Prokurica Prokurica (RN

National Renewal (Chile)

National Renewal , is a liberal conservative political party belonging to the Chilean right-wing political coalition Coalition for Change in conjunction with the Independent Democratic Union and the Chile First movement...

) as part of the 3rd senatorial constituency (Atacama Region).