How Andorra is governed: the General Council, the Government and seven parishes

People often ask who the president of Andorra is, and the honest answer is that there isn’t one. Andorra has two heads of state, the co-princes, a head of government with a Catalan title, the Cap de Govern, and a 28-seat parliament that met for centuries in a stone house in the capital. Here’s how it fits together, with the names as of September 2026.

A co-principality with a parliament

Spain’s Foreign Ministry calls the system a parliamentary co-principality, and Andorra Turisme adds that it has been one since the Middle Ages. What made it a modern state was the Constitution of 14 March 1993, which also guarantees freedom of religion. At the top sit the two co-princes, the French president and the Bishop of Urgell, who represent the country jointly. I explain who they are in the co-princes of Andorra.

The co-princes don’t govern, though. That’s the job of the General Council and the Government.

The General Council, 28 seats and six centuries of roots

Andorra’s parliament has 28 members, elected by universal suffrage for four years. It’s a single chamber with two kinds of representation, national and territorial, so part of it speaks for the country as a whole and part for the parishes.

It grew out of the Council of the Land of 1419, and the tourist board describes it as one of the oldest, smallest and most continuous parliaments in Europe. From the 18th century until 2011 it met in the Casa de la Vall, now open to visitors. For a small country, I can’t think of a better political visit anywhere in Europe, because a handful of rooms shows you centuries of self-government.

Who is running Andorra now?

The Cap de Govern is Xavier Espot Zamora, born in Escaldes on 30 October 1979. His party, Demòcrates per Andorra, won the general election of 2 April 2023 with 14 seats, ahead of Concòrdia on 5, the Social Democrats and Andorra Endavant on 3 each, Ciutadans Compromesos on 2 and Acció on 1. The full breakdown is in the table.

The next general election is expected in spring 2027. If you’re reading this later, the name at the top may well have changed, and I’ll update the page from an official source when it does.

The minister a visitor is most likely to feel the effect of is the Minister for Tourism and Trade, Jordi Torres Falcó in 2026, since those two areas are what brings most people over the border.

The parish councils, the government closest to you

Each of the seven parishes has its own comú, led by consols, with its own offices. They are Canillo, Encamp, Ordino, La Massana, Andorra la Vella, Sant Julià de Lòria and Escaldes-Engordany, and each gets its own profile in the parishes of Andorra. The comú organises a lot of what a tourist actually uses, from car parks and tourist offices to walking routes, festes majors and local bank holidays.

In the parish elections of 17 December 2023, Demòcrates per Andorra lost Andorra la Vella, Sant Julià de Lòria and Escaldes-Engordany, and it governs in coalition in La Massana, Ordino, Encamp and Canillo. So the local map doesn’t always match the national one.

Andorra and the EU, an open file

One issue shapes Andorran politics right now. Spain’s Foreign Ministry reports that talks on an Association Agreement with the European Union are finished and that the Government has pledged to hold a referendum before it signs, though no date for the vote has been set. Meanwhile, the country stays outside both the EU and Schengen, with a customs union since 1990 and a monetary agreement since 2011. What that means for your trip is on Andorra and the EU.

No army, and a militia from another age

This always surprises people. Andorra has never had an army or a defence ministry. The tourist board explains that in exceptional situations the sometent could be called up, a militia of heads of household aged 21 to 60. Day to day, security is a police matter, and I cover the practical side in staying safe in Andorra.

If you remember one thing, make it this. In Andorra the symbolic power sits abroad and the real power sits at home, shared between 28 members of parliament and seven parish councils. The question that usually follows, is Andorra a country, gets its own answer, and the state symbols are covered in the Andorra flag.