The country has a multi-party system, traditionally defined by the existence of three large political parties: the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), the Democratic Party (DP), and the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP). Historically, the three parties have won a large majority of the votes between them, but their total percentage has fallen recently, such that two additional parties, The Greens and the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR) have recorded over 8% of votes at each of last two legislative elections. The CSV and its predecessor (Party of the Right) has provided the Prime Minister for all but 12 years since 1918, and has always been the largest party in the legislature. In this respect, Luxembourg has certain features of a dominant-party system, although coalition governments are the norm and the previous two governments did not involve the CSV.
Compulsory voting
Luxembourg's electoral system operates on the basis of compulsory voting, with a few exceptions. Luxembourg citizens aged under 75 years who reside in Luxembourg are required to vote, unless they reside in a different municipality from the one in which they are called to vote.[1]
Luxembourg citizens aged over 75 years, as well as Luxembourg citizens of any age who do not reside in Luxembourg, are not required to vote. If they choose to register to vote, voting becomes mandatory for them. Non-Luxembourg citizens who are eligible to vote in municipal and/or European Parliament elections are not automatically required to vote; however, if they choose to register to vote, voting becomes mandatory for them. The failure of a person to vote when required to law to do so is punishable upon the first offence by a fine of between €100 and €250. A repeat offence within 5 years is punishable by a fine of between €500 and €1,000.[2]
One must be eighteen years of age on election day.
One must never have been convicted of a criminal offence.
One must otherwise be in full possession of one's political rights (e.g. not be certified as insane).
In addition to the criteria outlined above, to stand for election to the Chamber of Deputies, one must be resident in Luxembourg. Furthermore, one cannot be a candidate if one is a judge or a member of the Council of State.[5]
Deputies are elected from four constituencies ('circonscriptions'). They are arranged geographically, as combinations of the twelve traditional cantons. The four circonscriptions are Centre, Est, Nord, Sud.[5]
As the constituencies are based on geographic region and traditional borders, they have greatly differing populations. To reflect this, each constituency elects a different number of deputies; Sud, with 40% of the national population, elects twenty-three deputies, whilst Est, with only 12% of the population, elects seven. Voters can cast as many votes as their constituency elects deputies (so, in Est, one can vote for up to seven candidates), which can be spread across party lists or concentrated behind one single party.[5]
Since 1979, Luxembourg has elected members to the European Parliament,[5] which is the primary representative organ of the EU, and, with the Council of the European Union, forms its legislative branch. Due to its small size, the Grand Duchy elects just six members out of a total of 732, which is more than only Malta (which elects five MEPs); nonetheless, Luxembourg's representation is disproportionately large compared to its population, and Luxembourg elects more MEPs per capita than any other country (see: Apportionment in the European Parliament).
MEPs are elected to five-year terms. The exact date of elections is decided by Luxembourg, allowing it to schedule them on the same date as elections to the Chamber of Deputies (as is usually the case).[5]
Eligibility
To be eligible to vote in elections to the European Parliament, one must fulfil the following criteria:
One must be eighteen years of age on election day.
One must never have been convicted of a criminal offence.
One must otherwise be in full possession of one's political rights (e.g. not be certified as insane) in one's own country of citizenship (Luxembourg or another member state).
If not a Luxembourgish citizen, must have been resident in Luxembourg for at least five of the past six years when enrolling on the electoral register.[5]
In addition to the criteria outlined above, to stand for election to the European Parliament, one must be resident in Luxembourg. There are also extra requirements if one is a non-Luxembourgish citizen, in which case, one must be in full possession of one's political rights in both Luxembourg and one's country of citizenship (if not a Luxembourgish national), and have resided in Luxembourg for the past five years (and not just five of the past six).[5]
Electoral system
The seats are allocated according to the D'Hondt method.
Each commune (municipality) has an elected communal council. The number of councillors varies from 7 to 19 based on the number of inhabitants; the exception being the City of Luxembourg where its communal council consists of 27 members.
The councillors are directly elected every six years on the second Sunday of October. The last elections were held on 11 June 2023. The law of 15 December 2017 further defines that, in case the parliamentary and communal elections coincide, the latter are held in June of that year.
Referendums
The referendum was introduced into the Constitution of Luxembourg by the constitutional revision of 1919.[7] The Constitution mentions the referendum in Article 51:[7] "Voters will be asked to vote by way of referendum in the cases and under the conditions determined by law." The only details about execution of referendums are found in Article 114 which deals with constitutional amendments.[7] There are no other provisions regarding referendums in Luxembourg.
The Constitution amendment first has to be passed by two-thirds absolute super-majority of the Parliament, and then:
either passed again after at least three months under the same terms,
or passed on the referendum, if a referendum is requested in first two months of the three-month period by
The referendum on constitutional amendment (defined in Article 114) is binding. Referendums in general (defined in Article 51) are not explicitly stated to be binding.
The general framework of the organizational arrangements of referendums is established by "The Act of 4 February 2005 on the national referendum".[7]
There were four referendums in Luxembourg since 1919:
Luxembourg is a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the prime minister is the head of government, and the multi-party system. Executive power is under the constitution of 1868, as amended, exercised by the government, by the grand duke and the Council of Government (cabinet), which consists of a prime minister and several other ministers. Usually, the prime minister is the leader of the political party or coalition of parties having the most seats in parliament. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate. The National Assembly's legislators are known as députés, meaning "delegate" or "envoy" in English; etymologically, it is a cognate of the English word deputy, which is the standard term for legislators in many parliamentary systems).
Lydie Polfer is a Luxembourgish politician who has served in a number of capacities, including Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mayor of Luxembourg City, as well as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and a member of the Chamber of Deputies. She is a member of the Democratic Party (DP).
Romania elects on a national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The Romanian Parliament has two chambers. The Chamber of Deputies has currently 330 members, elected for a four-year term by party-list proportional representation on closed lists. The Senate has currently 136 members, elected for a four-year term by party-list proportional representation on closed lists.
The Italian Parliament is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitional National Council (1945–1946) and the Constituent Assembly (1946–1948). It is a bicameral legislature with 600 elected members and a small number of unelected members. The Italian Parliament is composed of the Chamber of Deputies, as well as the Senate of the Republic.
All elections in the Czech Republic are based on the principle of universal suffrage. Any adult citizen who is at least 18 years old can vote, except those who have been stripped of their legal capacities by a court, usually on the basis of mental illness. Elected representatives are elected directly by the citizens without any intermediaries. Election laws are not part of the constitution, but – unlike regular laws – they cannot be changed without the consensus of both houses of the Parliament. The Czech Republic uses a two-round plurality voting system for the presidential and Senate elections and an open party-list proportional representation system for all other elections. The proportional representation system uses the D'Hondt method for allocating seats.
Malta elects on a national level 6 MEPs representing Malta in the European Parliament, on a district level the legislature, On a local level the Local Councils and on a community level the Administrative Committees.
The Alternative Democratic Reform Party is a conservative and mildly populist political party in Luxembourg. It has five seats in the sixty-seat Chamber of Deputies, making it the fourth-largest party.
Claude Wiseler is a Luxembourgish politician, serving as the current and 40th President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies since 21 November 2023 and who served as President of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) from 2021 to 2023.
The Chamber of Deputies, abbreviated to the Chamber, is the unicameral national legislature of Luxembourg. Krautmaart is sometimes used as a metonym for the Chamber, after the square on which the Hôtel de la Chambre is located.
East is one of the four multi-member constituencies of the Chamber of Deputies, the national legislature of Luxembourg. The constituency was established in 1919 following the introduction of proportional representation for elections to the Chamber of Deputies. It consists of the cantons of Echternach, Grevenmacher and Remich. The constituency currently elects seven of the 60 members of the Chamber of Deputies using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2018 general election it had 36,595 registered electors.
North is one of the four multi-member constituencies of the Chamber of Deputies, the national legislature of Luxembourg. The constituency was established in 1919 following the introduction of proportional representation for elections to the Chamber of Deputies. It consists of the cantons of Clervaux, Diekirch, Redange, Vianden and Wiltz. The constituency currently elects nine of the 60 members of the Chamber of Deputies using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2018 general election it had 47,223 registered electors.
Constituencies are used to elect representatives ('deputies') to Luxembourg's unicameral national legislature, the Chamber of Deputies.
General elections were held in Luxembourg on 7 June 2009, together with the 2009 election to the European Parliament. All sixty members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected for five years. The polls were topped by the Christian Social People's Party, which built upon its already high number of seats to achieve a commanding victory, with the highest vote share and number of seats of any party since 1954. Incumbent prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who was the longest-serving head of government in the European Union, renewed the coalition agreement with Deputy Prime Minister and Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party leader Jean Asselborn and formed the Juncker-Asselborn Ministry II, which was sworn in on 23 July 2009.
Electoral districts go by different names depending on the country and the office being elected.
Laurent Mosar is a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer. He is a member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) and sits in the Chamber of Deputies. He was the President of the Chamber from 2009 to 2013.
François Bausch is a Luxembourgish politician who served as Second Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 2019 to 2023. He is a member of the Chamber of Deputies as well as an alderman and member of the communal council of Luxembourg City. He was leader of the Greens in the Chamber.
General elections were held in Luxembourg on 14 October 2018. All 60 seats of the Chamber of Deputies were renewed.
General elections were held in Luxembourg on 8 October 2023 to elect all 60 seats of the Chamber of Deputies.
Serge Wilmes is a Luxembourgish politician, serving in the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV).
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