Elections in Luxembourg. The Christian Social Party comes first

Luxembourg voted this Sunday, October 14 for legislative elections. The Christian Social Party comes at the head of a vote marked by a strong absence: only 43% of the voters went to the polls. The fate of Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is uncertain.

The Social Christian Party (CSV) came first in the general elections Sunday in Luxembourg, despite a setback, before the Socialists and Liberals of the current Prime Minister Xavier Bettel whose fate remains uncertain, according to provisional results.

Behind the CSV (28% of the votes), the socialists of the LSAP and the liberals were in a pocket handkerchief, around 17% each, while the ecologists recorded a clear progression (of five points), obtaining 15%.

Negotiations will now take place between the different parties to form a coalition bringing together at least 31 of the 60 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

Monday morning, the Grand Duke will receive Xavier Bettel then the president of this assembly and that of the Council of State, another leading institution, while other hearings with the presidents of the various political parties are also planned.

43% of voters

On the side of small parties, the pirate party, whose score has doubled, should enter the Chamber of Deputies, while the populist right (ADR) should strengthen its presence with a two-point jump, with more than 8% votes.

Some 256,000 voters took part in the ballot, representing less than 43% of voters. Luxembourger refused in 2015 to grant the right to vote to foreigners, proposed by Xavier Bettel.

In the previous poll, in 2013, the social-Christians had also finished in the lead but the socialist parties, liberal and ecologist allied to overthrow Jean-Claude Juncker, who held the post of prime minister since 1995.

The current president of the European Commission, who voted on Sunday, linked the election to the European elections scheduled for 2019.

"These are elections that take place eight months or so before the European elections, so the voter should already be watching the big European meeting with universal suffrage" and "I wish that at that moment there, as today in the Grand Duchy, we say clearly not at extremes, " said Jean-Claude Juncker at RTL Luxembourg.