Santo Domingo is an exclusive 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 coastal city and commune in San Antonio Province

San Antonio Province

San Antonio Province is one of eight provinces of the central Chilean region of Valparaíso . Its capital is the port city of San Antonio San Antonio Province is one of eight provinces of the central Chilean region of Valparaíso (V). Its capital is the port city of San Antonio San Antonio Province...

, Valparaíso Region

Valparaíso Region

The V Valparaíso Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions.Valparaíso Region, 2006 With the country's third highest population of 1,539,852 million in 2002 and third smallest area of , the region is Chile's second most densely populated after the Santiago Metropolitan Region...

. It was founded as Rocas de Santo Domingo (St. Dominic's Rocks).

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...

, Santo Domingo spans an area of 536.1 sqkm and has 7,418 inhabitants (3,811 men and 3,607 women). Of these, 4,737 (63.9%) 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 2,681 (36.1%) in rural areas. The population grew by 19.3% (1,200 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Santo Domingo 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 Fernando Rodríguez Larraín.

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Santo Domingo 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 Mrs. María José Hoffmann (UDI) and Mr. Víctor Torres (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...

) as part of the 15th electoral district, (together with San Antonio

San Antonio, Chile

San Antonio, meaning "Saint Anthony", is a major Chilean port and a commune in San Antonio Province, Valparaíso Region...

, Cartagena

Cartagena, Chile

Cartagena is a Chilean commune located in the San Antonio Province, Valparaíso Region. The commune spans an area of .-History:In the seventeenth century the area surrounding the town became a major producer of wheat, which was shipped to Peru and Spain via the port of...

, El Tabo

El Tabo

El Tabo is a Chilean commune located in the San Antonio Province, Valparaíso Region. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, El Tabo has 7,028 inhabitants . Of these, 6,604 lived in urban areas and 424 in rural areas...

, El Quisco

El Quisco

El Quisco is a Chilean city and commune in San Antonio Province, Valparaíso Region. Located in the country's central coast, it serves as a popular summer resort for the population of Santiago...

, Algarrobo

Algarrobo

Algarrobo may refer to:* The European carob tree * South American trees of the genus Prosopis* On Cuba, the Albizia saman tree * Algarrobo, Chile, a city in Chile* Algarrobo, Magdalena a town in Colombia...

 and Casablanca

Casablanca, Chile

Casablanca, meaning "white house", is a Chilean city and commune located in Valparaíso Province, Valparaíso Region.- Geography :The city of Casablanca is located on Route 68 between Santiago and the city of Valparaíso, at about 30 minutes southeast of Valparaíso and 50 minutes northwest of Santiago...

). 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 Francisco Chahuán Chahuán (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...

) and Ricardo Lagos Weber (PPD

Party for Democracy

The Party for Democracy is a political party in Chile; it is social democratic in its political orientation. It was founded in December 1987 by Ricardo Lagos, who aimed at forming a legal social democratic party . The party continued to function after the defeat of Pinochet...

) as part of the 6th senatorial constituency (Valparaíso-Coast).