CASS Board Elections Set for June 17 with 15 Pre-Candidates and Advance Voting to Boost Turnout

Elections to renew four seats on the CASS board of directors are scheduled for June 17, from 8am to 9pm, with 89,226 affiliates eligible to vote across the salaried workers, business owners and self-employed, and pensioners colleges.

Fifteen pre-candidates are now in the running, pending CASS validation of their supporting signatures. Official lists will appear in the BOPA gazette on May 21. Pre-candidates had until last Wednesday to submit at least 50 endorsements. The campaign runs from June 6 to 15.

To lift historically low turnout—below 5% except slightly in 2018—the CASS has set up advance voting in each parish from June 8 to 16, plus an awareness campaign. Schedules are: Canillo on June 8; Encamp and Pas de la Casa on June 9; Ordino on June 10; La Massana on June 11; Andorra la Vella on June 12; Sant Julià de Lòria on June 15; and Escaldes-Engordany on June 16. Hours run from 8am to 2.45pm, except 1pm in Escaldes-Engordany.

Salaried workers' seats draw the most competition, with seven lists: incumbents Montserrat Martínez (around 160 signatures) and Neus Cervera; union-backed Salustià Chato (around 400 signatures) and Miquel Àngel Adrán; Anna Carrión (263 signatures), former Unió Hotelera d'Andorra director and ORTA board member; hospital service head Mercè Avellanet; and traffic agents Ramon Pedrosa with Joan Parra as alternate.

Business and self-employed seats pit three: Daniel Armengol (around 160 signatures, CEA-backed with Francesc Pallàs), Àlex Lligé Puig of Sipce (88 signatures, with Àlex Ballesta), and paediatric endocrinologist Manuel Carranza.

Pensioners' seats have five contenders: former CASS benefits controller Ignasi Arbusà, ex-educator and UdA pioneer Florenci Pla, restaurateur Pere Canturri with Encamp seniors president Mariona Armengol, retired banker Josep García Nebot, and past pensioners' representative Lluís Sàmper (former disability federation president) with Rosa Alcobé.

The doctors' candidacies—Avellanet for salaried and Carranza for business—stem from the Col·legi Oficial de Metges d’Andorra push for clinical input on health benefits disputes. COMA president Albert Dorca noted no active doctors served on the board for a decade, aside from a brief 2022 stint by Albert Font post-Montserrat Capdevila's retirement. He stressed the need for practising physicians to contextualise cases, especially sanctions or provider oversight.

The other four board seats are government-appointed. Mandates last four years; prior elections were June 22, 2022. Key CASS challenges remain pension and public health reforms. Voter breakdowns: 45,000 salaried, 9,000 business/self-employed, 12,000 pensioners.