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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Mayor Of Pichilemu
The Mayor of Pichilemu is an elected politician who is the head of the executive branch of government of the commune of Pichilemu, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region, Chile. The mayor presides over the local city council, composed of six members, and serves as the civic representative of the commune. The mayor is popularly elected in a municipal election, by simple majority. The office is held for a four-year term without term limits.

Forty different individuals, including acting mayors, have held the office of mayor since the commune of Pichilemu was created in December 1891. José María Caro Martínez, elected in 1894, was the inaugural mayor of the commune, and served for almost four consecutive terms, interrupted by his resignation in 1905. The current mayor is independent Cristian Pozo Parraguez, who was elected in May 2021 and took office on that 28 June.

Some mayors are particularly notable, for example: Conservative José María Caro Martínez (1830–1916), father of José María Caro Rodríguez, the first Chilean Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church; Radical Carlos Rojas Pavez, the founder of Pichilemu, a newspaper which counted with collaborations of local journalist and historian José Arraño Acevedo and municipal worker Miguel Larravide Blanco; and Christian Democrat Jorge Vargas González (b. 1967), a politician who was forced out of office in two different times, under charges of bribery.

Background, organisation, and elections

On 22 December 1891, President Jorge Montt and his Minister of the Interior Manuel Irarrázabal Larraín promulgated the Autonomous Commune Law (Ley de Comuna Autónoma), creating 195 communes, including that of Pichilemu. At the time, the territory of Pichilemu comprised the former subdelegations of Cáhuil, Peñablanca, and Cocauquén. Three years later, on 6 May 1894, Pichileminians formed the first local government. José María Caro Martínez was elected the first mayor of the commune on that day.

Organisationally, the commune of Pichilemu has a mayor–council form of government. This provides for a commune-wide elected mayor serving in an executive role, as well as a city council serving in a legislative role. The mayor, as the highest authority of the commune of Pichilemu, has the responsibility to direct, manage and supervise the work of the municipality, and legally represents the commune. The mayor is also responsible for administrating the commune's financial resources, and municipal and national goods of public use, presides the local city council, and has the power to delegate his work to other functionaries of the local government, which he may appoint. Additionally, the mayor may give a public account of his gesture to the city council every year, usually in April; an extract of his account may be published to the community. If the mayor dies in office, resigns, or is unable to carry out his/her duties, a councilor may be elected by the city council to replace the former mayor. In the meantime, the municipal secretary may take office as acting mayor. This has happened several times in Pichilemu: following the resignation of René Maturana Maldonado in April 1992, municipal secretary Gustavo Parraguez Galarce took over his office since, at the time, there were no councilors; in November 1998, mayor Jorge Vargas González was convicted of illegally giving a driver's license, and the city council chose councilor Carlos Leyton Labarca until Vargas González resumed his duties in November 1999.

A red two-story building
The former Pichilemu City Hall, demolished in 2011–12

Municipal elections, during which mayors are elected, take place every four years; they take place one year before presidential elections (since 2008) in the last Sunday of October. A notable exception was the 2021 municipal election, as it was postponed from October 2020 to April 2021, and then to May 2021, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the 2016-2020 term was extended until 28 June 2021, while the 2020-2024 term was shortened by nearly seven months. Candidates must comply a number of requisites in order to run for mayor of Pichilemu; those include: to have completed secondary education (Enseñanza Media), to be a citizen, literate, to have resided in the Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region for at least two years before the election, and to have their military status regularized. The mayor is usually sworn in on 6 December following the election. The next election for the mayor will be in 2024. Municipal elections originally elected three mayors, called primer, segundo, and tercer alcalde, and a number of regidores. For example, the results of the first elections in Pichilemu, for the term between 1894 and 1897, showed José María Caro Martínez, Pedro Nolasco de Mira, and Francisco Reyes elected as the first primer, segundo, and tercer alcalde of Pichilemu, respectively. The role of the primer alcalde equals that of the current mayor of Pichilemu. However, voting was not popular: only taxpayers and landowners could vote. According to the Decree #5655 of 4 December 1945, regidores were popularly elected, and they had the faculty to vote for the mayor that would rule for the local government three-year term. The 1973 Chilean coup d'état interrupted Washington Saldías Fuentealba's mayoral term, hence terminating possibilities of new elections. The military regime of Augusto Pinochet appointed seven mayors, who held the office in a period of nineteen years. Following the Chilean transition to democracy, the D'Hondt method of proportional representation was used in the municipal elections of 1992, 1996, and 2000: all candidates run in a single list, the most voted candidate becomes the mayor and other five/six become councilors, according to the aforementioned method. For the municipal elections beginning in 2004, candidates for mayor and councilor run in separate lists, and mayors are elected by simple majority of votes.

Mayors

To date, forty-two different individuals have served as mayor of the commune of Pichilemu. There have been 43 mayoralties, excluding those of acting mayors. Francisco Javier Asalgado, Sergio Morales Retamal, and Carlos Echazarreta Iñiguez have served two non-consecutive terms, while Felipe Iturriaga Esquivel served for three. The longest term was that of Roberto Córdova Carreño, who served between December 2008 and June 2021, over twelve years. Before Córdova, the longest term was that of José María Caro Martínez, who served eleven years until his resignation one year before his fourth term expired. The shortest term was that of Gustavo Parraguez Galarce, an acting mayor who served only six days between 6 December and 12 December 2008, before the city council elected Roberto Córdova Carreño as the successor of Marcelo Cabrera Martínez, who was under trial at the time. Excluding Parraguez Galarce, the shortest term of a mayor of Pichilemu was that of Osvaldo Sotomayor Ilabaca, which lasted a span of nine days, between 25 February and 6 March 1935. Only one mayor has died in office: Serafín López Lizana died after serving five months as mayor of the commune. Olga Maturana Espinosa is the only woman to have served as mayor.

No. Portrait Name Took office Left office Political party Council
1 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit José María Caro Martínez 6 May 1894 7 May 1905 Conservative
1894–97 term
1897–1900 term
1900–03 term
1903–06 term
2 Black and white photo of a bearded man Francisco Javier Asalgado 7 May 1905 3 September 1909 Conservative
1905–06 term
1906–09 term
3 Carlos Ignacio Salas Salas 2 May 1909 3 May 1912 Liberal
1909–12 term
4 Black and white photo of a bearded man Francisco Javier Asalgado 5 May 1912 22 September 1912 Conservative
1912 term
5 José Santos Becerra 22 September 1912 2 May 1915 Conservative
1912–15 term
6 Gustavo Silva Pizarro 4 May 1915 4 May 1924 Conservative
1915–18 term
1918–21 term
1921–24 term
7 Luis Antonio Barahona Fornés 4 May 1924 24 December 1925 Conservative
1924–25 term
8 Francisco Adriano Caro Rodríguez 24 December 1925 22 May 1927 Conservative
1925–27 term
9 Black and white photo of a smiling man wearing a suit and a tie Evaristo Merino Canales de la Cerda 22 May 1927 14 May 1928 Liberal
1927–28 term
10 Manuel Camilo Silva 14 May 1928 10 July 1928 Liberal
1928 term
11 José Ramón Araneda y Araneda 10 July 1928 12 July 1930 Liberal None
12 Pastor Castro Rojas 12 July 1930 27 November 1930 Liberal
13 Fernando Maturana Barahona 27 November 1930 16 October 1932 Liberal
1930–32 term
14 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit and a hat Felipe Iturriaga Esquivel 16 October 1932 25 February 1935 Liberal
1932–35 term
15 Osvaldo Sotomayor Ilabaca 25 February 1935 4 May 1935 Liberal
1935 term
— Alberto Morales Moraga 4 May 1935 9 May 1935 Liberal Unknown
16 Serafín López Lizana 25 May 1935 October 1935 Conservative
1935 term
17 Alberto Morales Moraga 14 October 1935 1 December 1935 Liberal
1935 term
18 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit and a tie Humberto Llanos Martínez 1 December 1935 18 May 1941 Conservative
1935–38 term
1938–41 term
19 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit and a hat Felipe Iturriaga Esquivel 18 May 1941 21 May 1944 Conservative
1941–44 term
20 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit Armando Caroca Rojas 21 May 1944 18 May 1947 Liberal
1944–47 term
21 Black and white photo of a bald man looking straight wearing a suit and a tie Carlos Echazarreta Larraín 18 May 1947 21 May 1950 Social Christian Conservative
1947–50 term
22 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit and a tie Sergio Morales Retamal 21 May 1950 23 May 1951 Liberal
1950–51 term
23 Black and white photo of a woman Olga Maturana Espinosa 28 May 1951 17 May 1953 Social Christian Conservative
1951–53 term
24 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit and a tie Sergio Morales Retamal 17 May 1953 20 May 1956 Liberal
1953–56 term
25 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit and a hat Felipe Iturriaga Esquivel 20 May 1956 15 May 1960 United Conservative
1956–60 term
26 Basilio Sánchez Beguiristáin 19 May 1960 19 May 1963 United Conservative
1960–63 term
27 A smiling bald man wearing a blue jacket Carlos Echazarreta Iñiguez 19 May 1963 21 May 1967 United Conservative
1963–67 term
28 Carlos Rojas Pavez 21 May 1967 21 May 1971 Radical
1967–71 term
29 Washington Saldías Fuentealba 21 May 1971 11 September 1973
(coup d'état) 		Socialist
1971–75 term
30 A smiling bald man wearing a blue jacket Carlos Echazarreta Iñiguez 29 September 1973 10 November 1973 Christian Democratic None
31 Mario Urrutia Carrasco 7 December 1973 1975 Independent
32 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit, with his mouth opened Eduardo Parraguez Galarce 1975 23 May 1979 Independent
33 Black and white photo of a man wearing a suit José Lino Vargas Jorquera 23 May 1979 20 April 1981 Independent
34 Julio Waidele Wolff 20 April 1981 16 March 1982 Independent
35 Emilio Merino Lacoste 16 March 1982 30 August 1984 Independent
36 René Maturana Maldonado 31 August 1984 April 1992 Unknown
— Gustavo Parraguez Galarce April 1992 26 September 1992 Unknown
37 Orlando Cornejo Bustamante 26 September 1992 6 December 1996 Union of the Centrist Center
1992–96 term
38 A crestfallen man wearing a blue jacket Jorge Vargas González 6 December 1996 9 November 1998 Christian Democratic
1996–98 term
— Man in traditional huaso dressing, wearing a hat and a white jacket, holding a microphone Carlos Leyton Labarca 21 December 1998 4 November 1999 Independent Democratic Union
1998–99 term
— A crestfallen man wearing a blue jacket Jorge Vargas González 4 November 1999 20 July 2007 Christian Democratic
1999–2000 term
2000–04 term
2004–07 term
39 A dark-skinned man wearing a white shirt holding a hot dog in his right hand Víctor Rojas González 27 July 2007 12 September 2007 Christian Democratic
2007 term
— Gustavo Parraguez Galarce 12 September 2007 23 November 2007 Unknown
40 A bearded white man wearing a suit and a tie looking straight Marcelo Cabrera Martínez 23 November 2007 April 2008 Independent
2007–08 term
— A woman wearing a suit Marcia González González 16 May 2008 4 June 2008 Unknown
— A bearded white man wearing a suit and a tie looking straight Marcelo Cabrera Martínez 4 June 2008 26 September 2008 Independent
— Luis Calderón Gómez 29 September 2008 12 November 2008 Unknown
41 Dark-skinned man with his eyes partially closed rests his head with his hands Hernán Garrido Salas 12 November 2008 6 December 2008 Party for Democracy
2008 term
— Gustavo Parraguez Galarce 6 December 2008 12 December 2008 Unknown
2008 term
— A brunette-skinned man looking straight to the camera Roberto Córdova Carreño 12 December 2008 18 May 2009 Socialist
2008–09 term
— A bearded white man wearing a suit and a tie looking straight Marcelo Cabrera Martínez 18 May 2009 19 August 2009 Independent
2009 term
42 A brunette-skinned man looking straight to the camera Roberto Córdova Carreño 1 September 2009 28 June 2021 Socialist
2009–12 term
2012–16 term
2016–21 term
43 A white man wearing a suit, with a beach background Cristian Pozo Parraguez 28 June 2021 incumbent Independent
2021–24 term

Timeline

The timeline shows changes of the head of the executive branch of the municipality of Pichilemu from its creation in May 1894 until today.

1894–1950
Carlos Echazarreta LarraínArmando Caroca RojasFelipe Iturriaga EsquivelHumberto Llanos MartínezAlberto Morales MoragaSerafín López LizanaAlberto Morales MoragaOsvaldo Sotomayor IlabacaFelipe Iturriaga EsquivelFernando Maturana MaturanaPastor Castro RojasJosé Ramón AranedaManuel Camilo SilvaEvaristo Merino CanalesFrancisco Adriano Caro RodríguezLuis Barahona FornésGustavo Silva PizarroJosé Santos BecerraFrancisco Javier AsalgadoCarlos Salas SalasFrancisco Javier AsalgadoJosé María Caro Martínez
1950–2000
Carlos Leyton LabarcaOrlando Cornejo BustamanteGustavo Parraguez GalarceRené Maturana MaldonadoEmilio Merino LacosteJulio Waidele WolffJosé Lino Vargas JorqueraEduardo Parraguez GalarceMario Urrutia CarrascoCarlos Echazarreta IñiguezWashington Saldías FuentealbaCarlos Rojas PavezCarlos Echazarreta IñiguezBasilio Sánchez BerguiristainFelipe Iturriaga EsquivelSergio Morales RetamalOlga Maturana EspinosaSergio Morales RetamalCarlos Echazarreta Larraín
2000–2020
Marcelo Cabrera MartínezGustavo Parraguez GalarceHernán Garrido SalasLuis Calderón GómezMarcelo Cabrera MartínezGustavo Parraguez Galarce
2021–present

Latest election

Candidate Party Votes %
Roberto del Carmen Córdova Carreño Socialist Party of Chile/New Majority 4,435 54.4
Marcelo Cabrera Martínez Independent/Chile Vamos 857 10.5
Jorge Fabián Vargas González Independent 2,797 34.3
Mario Alejandro Moraga Cáceres Independent 70 0.9
Valid votes 8,159 98.73
Invalid/blank votes 105 1.27
Total 8,264 100
Registered voters/turnout 12,989 63.6
Source: El Mercurio

See also