Andorra (9) -- Analyses -- 2009

Socialist opposition wins election in tax haven Andorra

27.04.2009

By winning 14 of the 28 seats in the Parliament, the PS ended 14 years of rule by the Andorran Liberal Party (PLA). PS head Jaume Bartumeu, 54, said he would try to form a coalition government with the new Andorran Party for Change (ApC), which took three seats. Voter turnout in Sunday's election was 75.3 %, the lowest since 1993, when Andorra's new constitution came into effect. The principality has only 84,500 inhabitants, and only around a quarter of those were actually entitled to vote. The majority of the population is immigrants from Spain, Portugal and France. Sunday's election was held against the backdrop of an international crackdown on Andorra's status as a tax haven. The new parliament now has until November to end Andorra's banking secrecy provisions. French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to withdraw as Andorra's co-prince if it did not act on the issue. Bartumeu said he would speed up the legal elimination of the principality's banking secrecy and introduce income and value-added taxes.

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