Luxembourg general election, 2009

Luxembourg general election, 2009
	← outgoing members elected members →
All 60 seats in the Chamber of Deputies ; 31 seats were needed for a majority
Prime Minister before election; Jean-Claude Juncker ; CSV	Prime Minister-designate; Jean-Claude Juncker ; CSV

Last updated April 21, 2019

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 is 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.

Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a small landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Its capital, Luxembourg City, is one of the three official capitals of the European Union and the seat of the European Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority in the EU. Its culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and German cultures, as evident by the nation's three official languages: French, German, and the national language, Luxembourgish. The repeated invasions by Germany, especially in World War II, resulted in the country's strong will for mediation between France and Germany and, among other things, led to the foundation of the European Union.

The Christian Social People's Party, abbreviated to CSV or PCS, is the largest political party in Luxembourg. The party follows a Christian-democratic ideology and, like most parties in Luxembourg, is strongly pro-European. The CSV is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and the Centrist Democrat International (CDI).

Parties

Seven parties ran candidates in all four circonscriptions, of which, five were already represented in the Chamber of Deputies: the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP), the Democratic Party (DP), the Greens, and the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR). Two parties that were not then represented also ran: The Left ^[1] and the Communist Party (KPL). In addition, the Citizens' List, which was headed by current independent deputy Aly Jaerling, ran in two constituencies.

Legislative circonscriptions (Luxembourg) Wikimedia list article

A legislative circonscription is a multi-member electoral constituency that elects representatives ('deputies') to Luxembourg's unicameral national legislature, the Chamber of Deputies.

The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party, abbreviated to LSAP or POSL, is a social-democratic political party in Luxembourg. The LSAP is the second-largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, having won 13 of 60 seats at the 2013 general election, and has one seat in the European Parliament. The LSAP is currently part of the Bettel–Schneider government, with Etienne Schneider of the LSAP serving as Deputy Prime Minister. Since March 2014, the party's President has been Claude Haagen.

The Democratic Party, abbreviated to DP, is the major liberal political party in Luxembourg. One of the three major parties, the DP sits on the centre to centre-right, holding moderate market liberal views combined with a strong emphasis on civil liberties, human rights, and internationalism.

List #	Party		Running in				Seats
List #	Party		Centre	Est	Nord	Sud	2004	Pre-election
1		Communist Party (KPL)					0	0
2		Greens					7	7
3		Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR)					5	4^[2]
4		Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP)					14	14
5		Democratic Party (DP)					10	10
6		The Left					0	0
7		Christian Social People's Party (CSV)					24	24
8		Citizens' List					0	1^[2]

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Christian Social People's Party	1,129,368	38.0	26	+2
	Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party	695,830	21.6	13	–1
	Democratic Party	432,820	15.0	9	–1
	The Greens	347,388	11.7	7	0
	Alternative Democratic Reform Party	232,744	8.1	4	–1
	The Left	109,184	3.3	1	+1

	Communist Party	49,108	1.4	0	–
	Citizens' List	28,512	0.8	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		13,322	–	–	–
Total		203,535	100	60	0
Registered voters/turnout		223,842	90.9	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular Vote

CSV			38.04%
LSAP			21.56%
DP			14.98%
Déi Gréng			11.71%
ADR			8.13%
Déi Lénk			3.29%
KPL			1.47%
BL			0.81%

Seats

CSV			43.33%
LSAP			21.67%
DP			15.00%
Déi Gréng			11.67%
ADR			6.67%
Déi Lénk			1.67%

By locality

The CSV won a landslide victory, winning pluralities in 112 of Luxembourg's 116 communes, with the LSAP winning pluralities in four. Luxembourg legislative election 2009 communes map.png — The CSV won a landslide victory, winning pluralities in 112 of Luxembourg's 116 communes, with the LSAP winning pluralities in four.

As in 2004, the CSV won pluralities in each of Luxembourg's four circonscriptions, and pluralities in nearly all of Luxembourg's communes. Only four communes didn't register pluralities for the CSV (down from seven in 2004). Wiltz in the north and Dudelange, Kayl, and Rumelange in the southern Red Lands voted for the LSAP.

Luxembourg's 102 Communes conform to LAU Level 2 and are the country's lowest administrative divisions.

Wiltz is a commune with town status in north-western Luxembourg, capital of the canton Wiltz. Wiltz is situated on the banks of the river Wiltz. It was also a battleground in the Battle of the Bulge, near the end of World War II. A local airfield was used by both sides of the conflict, depending on the location of the Front.

Dudelange is a commune with town status in southern Luxembourg. It is the fourth-most populous commune, with 19,734 inhabitants. Dudelange is situated close to the border with France.

The CSV's performance improved most markedly in Centre, where it increased its vote from 35.5% to 38.6%. In Centre, the CSV received almost twice as many votes as the Democratic Party in, only ten years after the DP won a plurality by over 2%. It gained one extra seat in Centre, and another in Est.

	CSV	LSAP	DP	Greens	ADR	Left	KPL	BL
Centre	38.6%	17.8%	19.4%	13.2%	6.3%	3.5%	1.1%	0.0%
Est	41.5%	16.2%	15.4%	14.2%	9.5%	2.3%	1.0%	0.0%
Nord	39.6%	17.4%	18.2%	10.8%	10.3%	2.0%	1.0%	0.8%
Sud	35.6%	28.2%	10.1%	10.2%	7.9%	4.1%	2.2%	1.7%

Aftermath

The CSV's large margin of victory guaranteed that it would form the government once again, with Jean-Claude Juncker appointed as formateur and likely to remain as Prime Minister. Before the election, Juncker, Europe's longest-serving head of government, had told his party that he intended to step down as Minister for Finances, to be replaced by Luc Frieden.^[3] This brought into question his chairmanship of the Europe-wide Eurogroup, which he had chaired since 2005. However, he has since stated that he would remain in charge of monetary policy and relations with the European Central Bank.^[4]

Jean-Claude Juncker is a Luxembourgish politician serving as President of the European Commission since 2014. From 1995 to 2013 he served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Luxembourg; from 1989 to 2009 he was also Minister for Finances.

A formateur is a politician who is appointed to lead the formation of a coalition government, after either a general election or the collapse of a previous government. The role of the formateur is especially important in the politics of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Israel and the Czech Republic. These countries have a parliamentary system, where the executive is elected by the legislature. They also use proportional representation for elections to parliament, and have a multiparty system that makes it improbable for one party to win an outright majority. There may be several combinations of parties which might form a coalition. The Formateur is traditionally appointed by the head of state but in the Netherlands that became the right of the Speaker of the Lower house in the early 21st century.

Head of government is a generic term used for either the highest or second highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, who often presides over a cabinet, a group of ministers or secretaries who lead executive departments. The term "head of government" is often differentiated from the term "head of state", as they may be separate positions, individuals, or roles depending on the country.

The CSV was in a strong enough position to form a coalition with any one of three parties: LSAP (partner in the Juncker-Asselborn Ministry I), the DP (partner in the Juncker-Polfer Ministry), and the Greens (who had never previously entered the government). However, the DP and Greens had both ruled out the possibility of a coalition with the CSV, leaving only the previous coalition partners, LSAP, in the running.^[5] The CSV and LSAP formed a coalition agreement, with Juncker as Prime Minister and Jean Asselborn as Deputy Prime Minister, with the new government forming on 23 July.

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References

↑ The Left is technically not a party, but an electoral alliance.
1 2 Aly Jaerling was elected as a member of the Alternative Democratic Reform Party in 2004, but now sits as an independent and is running for Citizens' List.
↑ "Juncker précise qu'il ne souhaite pas quitter la présidence de l'Eurogroupe" (in French). Le Monde. 4 June 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
↑ "ECOFIN: EU's Juncker Wants To Remain Head of Eurogroup". The Wall Street Journal. 8 June 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2009. ^{[ dead link ]}
↑ Glesener, Marc (9 June 2009). "DP und Déi Gréng sagen Nein" (in German). Luxemburger Wort. Archived from the original on 12 June 2009. Retrieved June 13, 2009.

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[1] The Left is technically not a party, but an electoral alliance.

[Aly_Jaerling-2] 1 2 Aly Jaerling was elected as a member of the Alternative Democratic Reform Party in 2004, but now sits as an independent and is running for Citizens' List.

[3] "Juncker précise qu'il ne souhaite pas quitter la présidence de l'Eurogroupe" (in French). Le Monde. 4 June 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2009.

[4] "ECOFIN: EU's Juncker Wants To Remain Head of Eurogroup". The Wall Street Journal. 8 June 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2009. ^{[ dead link ]}

[5] Glesener, Marc (9 June 2009). "DP und Déi Gréng sagen Nein" (in German). Luxemburger Wort. Archived from the original on 12 June 2009. Retrieved June 13, 2009.

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