2009 Luxembourg general election

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.

2009 Luxembourg general election
Luxembourg
7 June 2009
All 60 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
31 seats were needed for a majority
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
CSV Jean-Claude Juncker 37.34 26 +2
LSAP Jean Asselborn 23.00 13 -1
DP Claude Meisch 14.31 9 -1
Greens François Bausch 11.48 7 0
ADR Robert Mehlen 7.69 4 -1
The Left Collective leadership 3.61 1 +1
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Jean-Claude Juncker
CSV		 Jean-Claude Juncker
CSV
Politics of Luxembourg
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Executive
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Elections
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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.

List # Party Running in Seats
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
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Christian Social People's Party1,129,36837.3426+2
Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party695,83023.0013–1
Democratic Party432,82014.319–1
The Greens347,38811.4870
Alternative Democratic Reform Party232,7447.694–1
The Left109,1843.611+1
Communist Party of Luxembourg49,1081.6200
Citizens' List28,5120.940New
Total3,024,954100.00600
Valid votes190,21393.45
Invalid/blank votes13,3226.55
Total votes203,535100.00
Registered voters/turnout223,84290.93
Source: Nohlen & Stöver[3]

By locality
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.

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.[4] 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.[5]

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.[6] 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.

References
  1. The Left is technically not a party, but an electoral alliance.
  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. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p2051 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  4. "Juncker précise qu'il ne souhaite pas quitter la présidence de l'Eurogroupe" (in French). Le Monde. 4 June 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
  5. "ECOFIN: EU's Juncker Wants To Remain Head of Eurogroup". The Wall Street Journal. 8 June 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
  6. 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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