Concòrdia proposes open individual candidacies for Andorra parish seats

Concòrdia will present on Monday a proposal to rewrite Andorra’s electoral law for the general councils’ parish seats, replacing the current closed two-person parish lists with open, individual candidacies, the party has announced. The draft amendment to the Qualified Law on the electoral régime and the referendum would allow each aspirant to run individually — with or without party backing — and require voters in each parish to choose two candidates; the two individuals with the most votes would win the two seats.

Under the proposed system, voters would select between as many individual ballots as there are candidates in a parish, rather than casting a single vote for a closed list. Concòrdia says the change would end the existing “winner-takes-all” outcome in which the most-voted list takes both seats, and could result in the two parish councillors coming from different parties or including independents.

The reform also abolishes the substitute mechanism. If an elected councillor resigns or vacates a seat, it would be filled by the next most-voted candidate in that parish (the third-placed candidate), rather than by a substitute named on a list. Concòrdia argues this will strengthen elected representatives’ commitment to the General Council and better reflect voters’ individual choices.

Party leaders say the initiative revives a traditional model of open lists in Andorra and draws inspiration from other systems such as the British model. Concòrdia presents the proposal as fulfilling a pledge from its 2023 programme to make territorial councillor selection “open and individual,” and as a step toward a “more equitable” electoral system that reduces partisan dominance.

The amendment will be outlined at a press conference on Monday by Concòrdia parliamentary group president Cerni Escalé and general councillor Pol Bartolomé, with the group planning to formally submit the bill to the legislature the following week. Bartolomé has said the measure is “very necessary to overcome the current partisan division and for the General Council to recover the strength it deserves,” and has invited a range of political figures to the presentation.