Andorran parliamentary election, 2011

Early parliamentary elections were held in Andorra

Andorra

Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...

on 3 April 2011 after the General Council of Andorra was dissolved over problems in passing important laws, including the budget and laws related to a value added tax

Value added tax

A value added tax or value-added tax is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its...

.

The Democrats for Andorra

Democrats for Andorra

Democrats for Andorra is the governing political party in Andorra.They stood as the main opposition party in the 2011 Andorran General Election, being the direct successor of the Reformist Coalition who ran in the 2009 election, and won 20 of the General Council's 28 seats, the largest majority...

won an absolute majority of seats making Antoni Martí

Antoni Martí

Antoni Martí Petit is an Andorran architect and politician who is the country's head of government since 11 May 2011, following a parliamentary election in 2011...

the prime minister-designate.

Background

The two co-princes of Andorra – the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell – do not get involved in internal politics, particularly after the May 1993 constitution

Constitution of Andorra

The Constitution of Andorra is the supreme law of the Principality of Andorra. It was adopted on 2 February 1993 and given assent by the Andorran people in a referendum on 14 March 1993...

making the principality an independent state.

Andorra is also a conservative country where many people vote more for men than specific programmes.

Fall of government

A crisis in government developed after banking secrecy laws were lifted and a value added tax

Value added tax

was due to be applied to companies, along with an opening up to foreign investment. After the 2009 election

Andorran parliamentary election, 2009

Parliamentary elections were held in Andorra 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 , but also following months of intense pressure from Co-Prince Nicolas Sarkozy to change the country's...

, the Social Democratic Party

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

The Social Democratic Party is a social democratic political party in Andorra.In the April 24 2005 legislative elections, the party came second in the elections, with 38.1 % of the popular vote and 11 out of 28 seats. It remained in opposition to the government of the Liberal Party of Andorra...

achieved a plurality of seats but fell one seat short of an overall majority, thus providing for more deadlock during key pieces of legislation. The government fell two years before its full four year term was due to end after failing to pass the budget with an absolute majority. Jaume Bartumeu

Jaume Bartumeu

Jaume Bartumeu Cassany is an Andorran lawyer and politician, who served as head of government from 2009 to 2011. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party in June 2000, in which he held the position of first secretary between 2000 and 2004...

effectively called for an election by requesting that the country's co-princes dissolve parliament.

Electoral system

Twenty-eight "general councillors" were elected, based on closed

Closed list

Closed list describes the variant of party-list proportional representation where voters can only vote for political parties as a whole and thus have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected...

party lists:

fourteen general councillors representing the seven parishes
Parishes of Andorra
Andorra consists of seven communities known as parishes . Until relatively recently, it had only six parishes; the seventh, Escaldes-Engordany, was created in 1978....

(two councillors per parish), elected from the list with most votes in each parish;
fourteen general councillors elected from national lists using the largest remainder method
Largest remainder method
The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems...

of proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

.

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.

Parties and candidates

Five parties contested the election: The governing Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

(PS), the newly formed opposition Democrats for Andorra

Democrats for Andorra

(DA) , the third place Andorra for Change

Andorra for Change

Andorra for Change is a political party in Andorra. At the 2009 parliamentary elections, the party gained 18.86% of the vote and three parliamentary seats....

(ApC), the Greens

Greens of Andorra

The Greens of Andorra is a green political party in Andorra.At the legislative election of 2005 the party's 451 votes translated into no seats in the General Council, in 2009 its 466 votes led to no seats, and in 2011 its 520 votes again won no seats. The party did not contest the 2001 election...

and the local conservative Lauredian Union

Lauredian Union

The Lauredian Union is a local conservative political party in Sant Julià de Lòria, Andorra.At the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 28 seats in the General Council of Andorra. It lost parliamentary representation in 2005, but regained its two seats in 2011....

(LU) party.

Out of these only the PS, DA and LU contested the parish seats. The PS contested all parishes, while DA contested all but Sant Julià de Lòria

Sant Julià de Lòria

Sant Julià de Lòria is one of the parishes of Andorra, in the far south of that country. It is also the name of the main town of the parish, which at 908 m is the lowest settlement in Andorra...

, which was contested by Lauredian Union

Lauredian Union

. ApC announced they would support DA candidates on a parish level.

Campaign

Incumbent Prime Minister Jaume Bartumeu and his main challenger Antoni Martí

Antoni Martí

Antoni Martí Petit is an Andorran architect and politician who is the country's head of government since 11 May 2011, following a parliamentary election in 2011...

wanted to change the protectionism

Protectionism

Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...

previously prevalent in the national economy

Economy of Andorra

Andorra's GDP in 2007 was $3.66 billion, with tourism as its principal component. Attractive for shoppers from France and Spain as a free port, the country also has developed active summer and winter tourist resorts. With some 270 hotels and 400 restaurants, as well as many shops, the tourist trade...

. They sought to attract foreign capital primarily in the technology sector to diversify from a current economy based on trade (33%), tourism (33%) and banking (17%). Due to the global financial crisis and its effect on Spain, which accounts for 80% of Andorran trade, (the other 20% with France) the economy was in a "severe crisis." Since 2008, 4,000 people in the country of 84,525 have lost their jobs, including seasonal employment.

Bartumeu had released the listing of Andorra’s tax haven status with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He also enacted a law to lift bank secrecy. He accuses right-winged parties of not forgiving him for a "move towards transparency and fiscal reforms."

Martí said that: "We develop our tax system to be within the European standards, Andorrans do not want to pay taxes, but they understand the need to change the system. We will keep an attractive tax regime and will continue to offer attractive products." Still there was some "broad consensus on economic and tax issues" between the two main parties; though the main difference was the creation of an income tax

Income tax

An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...

. Bartumeu sought to incomes of more than 40,000 euros, even though the minimum wage

Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

is 39,600. Marti opposes the entire proposal.

Eusebi Nomen of Andorra for Change also denounced the proposed increased tax burden and accused the government of selling "national sovereignty."

The Greens of Andorra's Isabel Lozano said that economic development must be more environmentally friendly.

Results

Democrats for Andorra

won a landslide victory, taking every parish in which they stood and winning the national vote, giving them 20 out of the 28 General Council's seats, the biggest victory in the country's history. The Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

lost all their parish seats and held only their six national seats, while Lauredian Union

Lauredian Union

returned to the General Council, winning the parish of Sant Julià de Lòria

Sant Julià de Lòria

Sant Julià de Lòria is one of the parishes of Andorra, in the far south of that country. It is also the name of the main town of the parish, which at 908 m is the lowest settlement in Andorra...

. Andorra for Change

Andorra for Change

Andorra for Change is a political party in Andorra. At the 2009 parliamentary elections, the party gained 18.86% of the vote and three parliamentary seats....

lost all their seats, and the Greens

Greens of Andorra

finished last, gaining no seats.

Voter turnout was 74.14%. Of the 28 members elected, 15 were women, making 54% of the parliament legislators women (up from 32%). This made Andorra the first European country to elect a parliament where women legislators were the majority, and only the second in the world after Rwanda.

National lists

Democrats for Andorra

||8,553||8||3||57.1||55.1||3,806
|-
| style="background:#e21019;"|
|align=left|Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

||5,397||6||||42.9||34.8||1,213
|-
| style="background:#0f0;"|
|align=left|Andorra for Change

Andorra for Change

Andorra for Change is a political party in Andorra. At the 2009 parliamentary elections, the party gained 18.86% of the vote and three parliamentary seats....

||1,040||0||3||0||6.7||1,728
|-
| style="background:#adff2f;"|
|align=left|Greens

Greens of Andorra

||520||0||||0||3.3||54
|- class="unsortable"
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Total!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|15,510 !! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|14!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|- !! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|- !! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Turnout !! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|74.1%
|}

Parish lists

Democrats for Andorra

||2||||421||107||70.6
|-
| style="background:#e21019;"|
|align=left|Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

and Independents
||0||||175||52||29.4
|- class="unsortable"
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Total!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|2!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|-!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|596!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Turnout!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|81.5%
|}

Encamp
|- align=center
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;"|Party
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Seats
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference in votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|% of votes
|-
| style="background:#00f;"|
|align=left|United for Progress - Democrats for Andorra

Democrats for Andorra

||2||2||1,324||952||63.3
|-
| style="background:#e21019;"|
|align=left|Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

and Independents
||0||2||766||72||36.6
|- class="unsortable"
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Total!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|2!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|-!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|2,090!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Turnout!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|74.6%
|}

Ordino

|- align=center
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;"|Party
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Seats
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference in votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|% of votes
|-
| style="background:#00f;"|
|align=left|Democrats for Andorra

Democrats for Andorra

||2||2||560||-||53.9
|-
| style="background:#e21019;"|
|align=left|Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

- GUPI

Parochial Union of Independents Group

Parochial Union of Independents Group is a local progressive political party in Ordino, Andorra.In the local elections of 2003 GUPI won 2 out of 10 seats in Ordino....

||0||2||479||74||46.1
|- class="unsortable"
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Total!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|2!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|-!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|1,039!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Turnout!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|81.7%
|}

La Massana
|- align=center
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;"|Partit polític
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Seats
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference in votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|% of votes
|-
| style="background:#00f;"|
|align=left|Democrats for Andorra

Democrats for Andorra

||2||||1,112||267||65.5
|-
| style="background:#e21019;"|
|align=left|Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

and Independents
||0||||585||136||34.5
|- class="unsortable"
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Total!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|2!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|-!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|1,697!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Turnout!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|79.2%
|}

Andorra la Vella
|- align=center
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;"|Party
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Seats
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference in votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|% of votes
|-
| style="background:#00f;"|
|align=left|Democrats for Andorra

Democrats for Andorra

||2||2||2,219||1,126||53.1
|-
| style="background:#e21019;"|
|align=left|Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

and Independents
||0||2||1,957||268||46.9
|- class="unsortable"
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Total!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|2!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|-!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|4,176 !! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Turnout!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|68.4%
|}

Sant Julià de Lòria
|- align=center
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;"|Party
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Seats
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference in votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|% of votes
|-
| style="background:black;"|
|align=left|Lauredian Union

Lauredian Union

||2||||1,349|| 269 ||61.8
|-
| style="background:#e21019;"|
|align=left|Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

and Independents
||0||||835|| 98 ||38.2
|- class="unsortable"
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Total!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|2!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|-!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|2,184!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Turnout!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|75.9%
|}

Escaldes-Engordany
|- align=center
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;"|Party
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Seats
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Difference in votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|% of votes
|-
| style="background:#00f;"|
|align=left|Democrats for Andorra

Democrats for Andorra

||2||2||2,087||1,129||65.4
|-
| style="background:#e21019;"|
|align=left|Social Democrats

Social Democratic Party (Andorra)

and Independents
||0||2||1,104|| 200 ||34.6

|- class="unsortable"
! colspan="2" style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Total!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|2!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|-!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|3,191!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|Turnout!! style="background:#e9e9e9;"|74.4%
|}

External links

Election Guide - Andorra

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