General Council (Andorra)
General Council (Andorra)
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General Council (Andorra)

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General Council (Andorra)

The General Council of Andorra (Catalan: Consell General d'Andorra, IPA: [konˈsɛʎ ʒeneˈɾal danˈdora]) is the unicameral parliament of Andorra. It is sometimes referred to as the General Council of the Valleys (Catalan: Consell General de les Valls) because it was the historical name and to distinguish it from similarly named bodies in the Val d'Aran and in France.

There are twenty-eight "general councillors", who are elected for four-year terms based on party lists in a closed list system:

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).

This is a recent development; originally, the seven parishes had each returned four deputies. However, as parishes varied in population from 350 to 2,500, this was felt to be significantly imbalanced, and the national list system was introduced for the 1997 elections to counter the disproportionate power held by the smallest parishes. [citation needed]

The Council appoints a presiding officer, titled the Síndic general, and a deputy, the subsíndic. The current Síndic general is Sandra Codina of the Democrats for Andorra.

The General Council (subject to approval of the Co-Princes) elects the Head of Government, who presides over the Executive Council. The Head of Government appoints the remaining seven members of the Executive Council. The current Head of Government is Xavier Espot Zamora.

Political parties are a recent innovation; the first party was formed in 1976, and they only gained legal recognition in 1992. The most recent Andorran parliamentary election was held on 2 April 2023.

The General Council has the second-highest proportion of women legislators (behind the lower house of the Rwandan legislature), and the highest in the developed world. In 2015, exactly half of its members (14 out of 28) were women.

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