General elections were held in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
on 14 October 2018. All 60 seats of the
Chamber of Deputies were renewed.
The incumbent
Bettel–Schneider Ministry was made up of a coalition of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
(DP), the
Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party
The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party ( lb, Lëtzebuerger Sozialistesch Aarbechterpartei, french: Parti ouvrier socialiste luxembourgeois, german: Luxemburger Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei), abbreviated to LSAP or POSL, is a social-democratic, pr ...
(LSAP) and
The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to:
Current political parties
*Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens''
*Greens of Andorra
* Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Greens of Burkina
* Greens (Greece)
* Greens of Montenegro
*Greens of Serbia
*Gree ...
. The largest party in Parliament, the
Christian Social People's Party (CSV), was in the opposition. The 2018 election allowed for the coalition to remain in place with
minor changes in government composition.
Date
There was some debate about when the election ought to be held. Article 56 of the
Constitution of Luxembourg
The Constitution of Luxembourg (french: Constitution du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg) is the supreme law of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The modern constitution was adopted on 17 October 1868.
Whilst the constitution of 1868 marked a radical c ...
defines that deputies are elected for a five-year term, which would mean holding an election by October 2018, five years after the 20 October 2013 snap election. However, article 123 of the Electoral Law of 2003 states that "In case of dissolution of the Chamber, the end of tenure dates for deputies elected after the dissolution, will occur in the year following the opening of the fifth ordinary session." Since the fifth ordinary session would be opened in late 2018, the election would need to be held in 2019, likely concurrent with the June 2019 European Parliament elections, exceeding the constitutional five-year term. The electoral law was thus seen as conflicting with the constitution, and the politicians intended to amend the law and hold general elections in October 2018. The law modification of 15 December 2017 removes June as month for regular parliamentary elections and instead fixes the election date when the parliamentary term expires, meaning five years after the previous election.
Electoral system
![Lux_-_Circos](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Lux_-_Circos.png)
The 60 members of the
Chamber of Deputies was elected by
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
in four
multi-member constituencies; 9 in
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north ...
constituency, 7 in
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
, 23 in
South and 21 in
Centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
* Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...
. Voters could vote for a party list or cast multiple votes for as many candidates as there are seats. Seat allocation is calculated in accordance with the
Hagenbach-Bischoff quota
The Hagenbach-Bischoff quota (also known as the Newland-Britton quota or the exact Droop quota, as opposed to the more common rounded Droop quota) is a formula used in some voting systems based on proportional representation (PR). It is used in ...
.
[Electoral system]
IPU
Only
Luxembourg citizens may vote in general elections. A proposal to extend voting rights to foreigners who have lived in Luxembourg for at least 10 years and have previously voted in a European or local election in Luxembourg, was decisively rejected in a
2015 referendum. Voting is
mandatory
Mandate most often refers to:
* League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919
* Mandate (politics), the power granted by an electorate
Mandate may also ...
for eligible Luxembourg citizens who live in Luxembourg and are under 75 years of age. Luxembourg citizens who live abroad may vote by post at the
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in which they most recently lived in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg citizens who were born in Luxembourg but have never lived there may vote by post at the commune in which they were born.
Luxembourg citizens who were not born in Luxembourg and have never lived there may vote by post at the commune of
Luxembourg City
Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Gr ...
.
Campaign
On 2 March 2018, the
Alternative Democratic Reform Party
The Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR; lb, Alternativ Demokratesch Reformpartei, french: Parti réformiste d'alternative démocratique, german: Alternative Demokratische Reformpartei) is a conservative and mildly populist political party ...
(ADR) announced an electoral alliance with the Wee 2050-Nee 2015 movement, which had formed itself as a citizen's movement fighting for the "3 x no" in the 2015 referendum. This agreement gives the movement up to eight slots on the ADR's lists.
Opinion polls
Parties
The following parties contested the election.
Results
Aftermath
On 16 October
Grand Duke Henri
Henri (french: Henri Albert Gabriel Félix Marie Guillaume, ; born 16 April 1955) is the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He has reigned since 7 October 2000. Henri, the eldest son of Grand Duke Jean and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, is a f ...
gave Xavier Bettel the task of forming the next government, with the DP, LSAP and DG announcing that they would participate in coalition talks. On 17 October coalition negotiations started between the three parties, with an agreement due to be finished before Christmas. It was expected that the LSAP would take the EU Commission post in the next government, while the DG would increase their influence on ministries. The coalition was confirmed and Bettel was reappointed Prime Minister on 5 December 2018.
References
{{Luxembourgian elections
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
2018 in Luxembourg
Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg) elections
October 2018 events in Europe