Parliamentary elections were held in

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

on 26 April 2009, . the fourth under the 1993 Constitution. The elections were held at the end of the normal four-year term of the

General Council General council may refer to: In education: * General Council (Scottish university), an advisory body to each of the ancient universities of Scotland * General Council of the University of St Andrews, the corporate body of all graduates and senio ...

(''Consell General'', Andorra's parliament), but also following months of intense pressure from Co-Prince

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

to change the country's

banking secrecy Banking secrecy, alternately known as financial privacy, banking discretion, or bank safety,Guex (2000), p. 240 is a conditional agreement between a bank and its clients that all foregoing activities remain secure, confidential, and private. Mos ...

laws. The

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

led by

Jaume Bartumeu Jaume Bartumeu Cassany, GCIH (; born 10 November 1954) is an Andorran lawyer and politician, who served as the prime minister of Andorra from 2009 to 2011. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party (PS) in June 2000, in which he hel ...

was the clear winner, with 45.03% of votes for its national list, followed by the "Reformist Coalition" led by the

Liberal Party of Andorra The Liberals of Andorra ( ca, Liberals d'Andorra, LA) is a conservative-liberal political party in Andorra. It is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. History The party was established a ...

(32.34%) and the new Andorra for Change party (18.86%). The Social Democrats hold fourteen seats in the General Council, against eleven for the Liberals and three for Andorra for Change. The

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district An ...

, restricted to Andorran citizens, was 20,298 voters out of a population of about 85,000.. There were 114 candidates for 28 seats, more than one candidate for every 200 voters. Turnout was 75.3%.

Issues

The main issue in the elections is the possible changes required to Andorra's economic model to facilitate its international relations.. On 11 March 2009, three weeks before the

2009 G-20 London Summit The 2009 G20 London Summit was the second meeting of the G20 heads of government/heads of state, which was held in London on 2 April 2009 at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre to discuss financial markets and the world economy. It followed the first ...

, the Head of Government

Albert Pintat Albert Pintat Santolària (; born 23 June 1943) is an Andorran citizen, who served as the prime minister of Andorra from 27 February 2005 to 5 June 2009. Pintat graduated from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland in 1967, majoring in economi ...

made a unilateral declaration in Paris promising to improve the exchange of information (for tax purposes) about non-residents who hold bank accounts in Andorra. He committed the incoming government to drafting changes to the banking secrecy laws by 1 September 2009, which would then be passed by the General Council before 15 November 2009.. He also announced that he would not be leading the Liberal Party of Andorra in the elections so as to devote his time to negotiating tax treaties with other countries, starting with France. Such agreements would also abolish the punitive

customs duties A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...

which France and Spain impose on Andorran exports (33% and 25% respectively).. The Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party have agreed to cooperate in the drafting of the new legislation. The negotiation of tax treaties is complicated by the present tax structure of Andorra. The state is funded mostly by

indirect taxation An indirect tax (such as sales tax, per unit tax, value added tax (VAT), or goods and services tax (GST), excise, consumption tax, tariff) is a tax that is levied upon goods and services before they reach the customer who ultimately pays the ...

, such as levies on water supplies and telecommunications, and by fees for administrative permits. The Social Democratic Party proposes the introduction of

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

and

value added tax A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...

, albeit at low rates, whereas the Liberal Party prefers keeping changes to the tax system to a minimum.. Andorra for Change rejects any changes whatsoever to the current system. A third issue is the relationship Andorra should have with the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Ass ...

(EEA): at present, Andorra has a limited set of bilateral agreements with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

in the fields of economic, social, and cultural cooperation, signed in June 2004. The Social Democratic Party favours expanding these into a fully fledged association agreement; the Liberal Party is more reticent, but has promised to cooperate in any discussions.

Electoral system

Twenty-eight "general councillors" were elected on 26 April 2009, based on party lists (

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some inf ...

system): *two general councillors from each of the seven

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

, elected from the list with most votes in each parish; *fourteen general councillors elected from national lists using the

largest remainder method The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with various h ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. The parish lists and the national list are independent of one another: the same person cannot appear on both the national list and on a parish list, and voters cast two separate ballots (there is no requirement to vote for the same party for both lists).Arts. 19, 51 & 52, Law 28/2007.

Party lists

Results

References

*"Law 28/2007"
Llei 28/2007, del 22 de novembre, qualificada de modificació de la Llei qualificada del règim electoral i del referèndum.

External links

Official site
on the 2009 parliamentary elections from the Government of Andorra
''El Periòdic d'Andorra''
, daily newspaper
''Diari d'Andorra''
daily newspaper

Homepages for party lists

Reformist CoalitionSocial Democratic PartyAndorra for ChangeNational Union of ProgressGreens of Andorra
{{Andorran elections

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

Parliamentary elections in Andorra General Council (Andorra) April 2009 events in Europe