power). The Mayor of Bello is the head of government and of the municipal administration, representing the municipality legally, judicially and extrajudicially. It is a position elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The current mayor is Carlos Alirio Munoz Lopez. The main functions of the Mayor are to administer the resources of the municipality, to provide for the welfare and interests of his fellow citizens and to represent them before the Federal Government. He should also promote local policies to improve the quality of life, such as health programs, housing, education and road infrastructure; equally, he maintains public order. The Municipal Council of Bello is a popularly elected public corporation, composed of 19 democratically elected councillors, for a term of four years. The council is the legislative body and makes binding agreements within its territorial jurisdiction. Its functions include approving projects from the mayor, issuing the organic standards of the budget and issuing the annual revenues and expenditures budget. To manage the municipality, the Mayor has 14 ministries: Administrative Services Secretariat Secretariat of Government Secretariat of Sport and Recreation Education and Culture Secretariat Internal Control Secretariat Secretariat of Health Planning Secretariat Secretariat of Infrastructure The Environment Secretariat General Secretariat Secretariat of Finance Secretariat of Welfare and Social Integration Secretariat of Transport and Traffic Secretariat of Entrepreneurship Administrative divisions The urban Bello area is divided into 12 communes. These are subdivided into neighborhoods, totaling 82. In rural areas there is a township and 15 hamlets. In the 2011 local elections, blank ballots won. Un-marked votes, invalid votes and blank votes increased to 56.7% from 43.3%, for the only candidate represented. As a result of this the elections had to be repeated in less than a month. The communes are: Metropolitan area The Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley is an administrative political entity which is based throughout the Aburrá Valley at an average altitude of about 1,538 meters. The area consists of 10 municipalities, and is crossed from south to north by the Medellín River which, being born to its south in the town of Caldas, it takes on the name of Rio Porce in the north, in the municipality of Barbosa. It was the first metropolitan area to be established in Colombia in 1980 and is the second largest metropolitan area in the country in population after the Capital District of Bogotá. The total population, which includes the