Parliamentary elections were held in

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

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 (''Consell General'', Andorra's parliament), but also following months of intense pressure from Co-Prince Nicolas Sarkozy to change the country's banking secrecy laws. The Social Democratic Party led by Jaume Bartumeu 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 (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, 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 Head of Government Albert Pintat 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 or import tax is a duty (tax), duty imposed by a national Government, government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods ...

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

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

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 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 ...

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

largest remainder method Party-list proportional representation Apportionment methods The quota or divide-and-rank methods make up a category of apportionment rules, i.e. algorithms for allocating seats in a legislative body among multiple groups (e.g. parties or f ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. 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 In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Parliamentary elections in Andorra General Council (Andorra)