Political system of Andorra

[Irina Rybalchenko]

Political system of Andorra

The official name of the country is the Principality of Andorra. Nowadays Andorra has a status of being a legally, democratically and socially independent country. On May 14th, 1933 the referendum over the first Constitution was held. That Constitution was approved by the majority of the citizens. According to this document a parliamentary principality was considered to be the basis of the state political regime. The form of government is a Parliamentary Principality.

Historically, the Co-princes of Andorra as well as the Head of the State possess general and inseparable powers and can represent the Principality at the highest level. As stated in different versions of “Pariatge”, the decree of the co-Princes of the State is personal and inseparable and belongs to the bishop of La Seu D’Urgell (Spain) and to the President of France. According to the same decree, the bishop of Urgell and the President of France guarantee the stability of Andorra’s political system. The Co-Princes are also in a position to solve controversial issues of the Principality and participate in the process of taking decisions by the governmental and constitutional powers.

According to the new Constitution of 1993, that was adopted as a result of the work of a three-party commission (the representatives of joint rulers, General Council (Parliament) and Executive Council (Government)), the joint rulers keep on governing the state affairs, but the Head of the Government keeps executive power. These two joint rulers keep equal authorities that, nevertheless, do not include the veto right in response to the governmental decisions. Both are represented in Andorra by the delegates, though since 1993 France and Spain have got their own embassies in Andorra. The source: https://all-andorra.com/political-system/