On Thursday, the government announced that foreigners would no longer need to live in Luxembourg for five years before they can vote in municipal elections.
The opposition Left Party demands that the people affected by the change must now be “actively mobilised”. During the last municipal elections, 117,000 foreign residents chose not to register to vote, despite being eligible to do so. According to MP Myriam Cecchetti from the Left Party (Déi Lénk), the reasons for this must now be determined.
Cecchetti stressed the importance of launching “information and awareness campaigns” following the announcement, which the government has announced it intends to do.
The Association for the Support of Immigrant Workers (ASTI) also welcomes the announcement, with ASTI representative Sergio Ferreira describing it as a “logical evolution in the spirit of the European treaties” and as a result of ASTI’s and other association’s work in that regard over the past few years.
Ferreira pointed out that ASTI spoke with all of the Grand Duchy’s political parties in 2019 to gather support for the two propositions announced by the government on Thursday.
The Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) refrains from taking an official stance on the proposed reform for the time being. MP Gilles Roth stated that the biggest opposition party first wants to launch an internal discussion with its local politicians.
According to Roth, the CSV’s main concern is that of passive suffrage, with Roth pointing out that someone’s “level of integration” must be considered if that person wants to take up an executive position in a municipality.
The MP stressed that his party intends to approach the topic “with an open mind” while still being fully aware that it is “a sensitive issue” for members of the CSV. Keeping in mind the results of the 2015 referendum, Roth added, his party thinks it best “not to shoot from the hip”.
At the latest, the MP expects an official CSV position on the subject by the start of the new parliamentary year in mid-October.
