Parliamentary elections were held in Andorra on 2 April 2023.[1] The ruling liberal-conservative coalition of the Democrats for Andorra (DA) and Committed Citizens (CC) led by Prime Minister Xavier Espot won an absolute majority of seats, the fourth consecutive election victory for the DA. A new party, Concord, emerged in second place, taking the opposition leadership previously held by the Social Democratic Party, which fell to third place by losing four seats.
Background
Three parties eventually formed a governing coalition after the 2019 Andorran parliamentary election, composed of the Democrats, the Liberal Party and Committed Citizens with Xavier Espot as prime minister.[2]
On 14 June 2022, the minister of social affairs Judit Pallarés left the Liberal Party. However, the party assured that this internal crisis would not jeopardize the stability of the coalition.[3] Prime Minister Espot announced, the following day, that he had no intention of advancing the parliamentary elections.[4] Prime Minister Espot ordinarily dissolved the Consell General by decree on 6 February 2023. Campaigning started on 19 March at 3:00 pm. 1 April was the day of election silence and 2 April was the day of the election.[5]
Electoral system
Twenty-eight general councillors (Catalan: consellers generals) are elected, based on closed party lists:[6][7]
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.[10]
The 1993 Constitution limits the number of full terms served by a prime minister to two.[11]
Parties and alliances
The deadline for submitting candidacies ended on 13 February, so a total of six candidacies were defined, one less than in the 2019 parliamentary elections.[12][13]
Three new political parties were presented:
Concord: was constituted on 24 November 2022 and elected Cerni Escaldé as the national candidate.[14]
Andorra Forward: was formalized in November 2021 by Carine Montaner, a deputy who left the Third Way party in March that year but kept her seat.[15][16]
Action for Andorra: was founded by the minister of social affairs, Judith Pallarés and formalized as a party in October 2022.[17] On 14 June of that year, Pallarés and four other deputies left the Liberals of Andorra party, alleging loss of comfort with the new more conservative postulates represented by the new party leader Josep Maria Cabanes.[3]
The extraordinary congress of the Democrats for Andorra (DA) held on 15 November 2022 elected Xavier Espot to stand for re-election as prime minister.[18]
On 1 February 2023, the Social Democratic Party (PS) and the Social Democracy and Progress (SDP) presented their coalition "social-democratic alliance" to run together in the elections, since "the moment calls for it". They confirmed that the PS leader, Pere López, would be the leader of the candidacy.[19]
Political coalition Third Way and Lauredian Union (UL), who had two seats on the General Council, announced on 12 February 2023, that they would not run in the elections "based on the coherence and integrity of our political positions".[20]
Liberals of Andorra presented its candidacies on 12 February 2023 with its leader Josep Maria Cabanes as candidate for prime minister.[21]
National constituency
The candidacies presented in the national constituency, in which 14 councilors are elected by proportional representation, are:[22]
The parties or coalitions that are presented in the seven parish constituencies, in which the two candidates from the list with the most votes in each parish are elected, are:
Prime Minister Xavier Espot dissolved the Consell General by decree on 6 February 2023, marking the start of campaigning on 19 March at 3:00 pm, 1 April as the day of election silence and 2 April as the election day.[5]
Between 17 and 18 February, a delegation from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights visited the country to assess the electoral process, issuing a report in which they expressed confidence in the Andorran electoral process and the election administration, so that an election observation was not necessary on 2 April.[26]
Two days before the beginning of the electoral campaign, Democrats for Andorra presented their electoral program, an act that was criticized by PS+SDP as irregular.[27]
The campaign began on 19 March with the traditional pasting of electoral posters. The Liberals of Andorra were the only party that did not start it in Andorra la Vella; they started in Sant Julià de Lòria instead.[28]
On 29 March, anonymous pamphlets were disseminated, both on paper and digitally, accusing Espot and his family of benefiting from the Andorran government's intervention in Banca Privada d'Andorra in 2015, a bank accused by the United States Department of the Treasury of money laundering. The pamphlets also accused Democrats for Andorra of wanting to destroy the natural heritage with real estate speculation, denounced Attorney General Alfonso Alberca and his position on abortion, among others. Espot, the following day, released a video in which he denied these accusations, announced that from 3 April he would take legal actions for slander and defended the "honorability" of the country.[30][31]
The debates between the national candidates took place on 20 March, organized by the Andorran Business Confederation (CEA); on 21 March, organized by Spanish Cadena SER and between Xavier Espot and opposition leader Pere López; and on 30 March, organized by Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra.[32][33][34][35]
The eight electoral colleges were installed in the headquarters of the parishes, one for each parish added to the own polling station in the village of El Pas de la Casa. Election day began at 9:00 am without any incident and 29,958 people were called to vote, 9,010 of whom had already done so with a judicial vote (early voting that is done at the headquarters of the Andorran judiciary). Polls closed at 7:00 pm.[42]
Results
On the evening of 2 April, the Andorran government announced the results: the ruling coalition of Democrats for Andorra (DA) and Committed Citizens (CC) won the elections with 16 seats, gaining 3 more seats and the absolute majority of Consell General's seats. It was followed by the new Concord party, which won 5 seats. The third place was won by the progressive coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party (PS) and Social Democracy and Progress (SDP), which lost 4 seats, remaining with 3. In last positions, the new parties Andorra Forward, which won 3 seats, and Action for Andorra (Acció), which won one. At a press conference, Xavier Espot, accompanied by the Minister of Finance and acting government spokesman Cesar Marquina, proclaimed these results.[43]Liberals of Andorra was left without parliamentary representation, losing the 4 seats it had.[44]
The turnout was 66.95%, 1.3% less than that recorded in the 2019 elections, despite being higher than in previous years.[43][45] Early voting rose to 30%, the highest figure ever recorded.[45]
After winning the elections, Prime Minister Xavier Espot assured the citizens that "we will not fail you and during these 4 years; I will work tirelessly to be worthy of this trust and to bring Andorra to a good place". He also congratulated the two new political forces that obtained a good result, Concord and Andorra Forward, to whom he offered to work together to "work for the benefit of the citizens".[46]
The leader of Concord, Cerni Escalé, announced that they would carry out a "constructive opposition, but courageous and close to the citizens", and expressed his satisfaction with the result obtained, a better result than the polls predicted.[47]
The leader of the PS–SDP coalition, Pere López, acknowledged the poor results and announced that it is necessary to open a process of reflection within the formation and that, at that time, he did not intend to make a decision on his leadership at the head of the PS.[48] On 5 April, López announced that he was stepping down from his seat and the party presidency at the party congress on 20 May.[49]
Carine Montaner, the Andorra Forward candidate, was positive about the result that brought the party to fourth place, and stated that the party will now dedicate itself to "doing the work of counterpower, which is fundamental to fighting corruption and the cronyism that has predominated these past legislatures".[50] Montaner also stated that the numbers did not "add up", insinuating her suspicion that there was electoral fraud, which was criticized by Xavier Espot.[51][52]
Judith Pallarés, national candidate for Action for Andorra, admitted that she was "a bit sad" about the result obtained and, despite wanting to make a positive reading, expressed the need to reflect internally.[53]
Xavier Espot was sworn in for another term as prime minister on 17 May 2023.[54][55]
