The coalition led by Luxembourg’s liberal prime minister Xavier Bettel has lost its majority in parliament during the country’s general election on Sunday – a result that calls for the formation of a brand new government and could change the nation’s political landscape.
Since 2013, Luxembourg has been ruled by a left-wing, three-party coalition government of Liberals, Socialists, and Greens under the lead of 50-year-old Bettel, the first prime minister to be openly gay in the country and the third worldwide.
While Bettel’s Democratic Party (DP) grew its support, the Green Party lost a total of 5 seats on Sunday, securing the government only 29 of the required 31 seats to reach a majority in the 60-seat parliament.
It was a surprising turn of events for a country that’s known to be relatively consistent in its voter allegiances in Europe.
The conservative Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), on the other hand, won 21 seats – same as in 2018 – and will now get to choose a coalition partner a decade after being left in the opposition.
“The people of Luxembourg have spoken,” CSV leader Luc Frieden, a former finance minister, said.
“We have received a clear mandate to lead the next government. The blue-red-green majority no longer exists.”
The choice of a coalition partner is widely believed to be between Bettel’s Democratic Party (DP) – the second strongest party in the country with a total of 14 seats in parliament – and the Socialists (LSAP), which currently holds 11 seats.
Bettel has shown confidence in the face of his coalition government being toppled by Sunday’s election.
“With the results achieved tonight, I think my party can claim a responsibility to be a part of the new government”, he said on Sunday night.
Talks to form a new coalition government will be ongoing on Monday.
