Despite failing to secure seats in the Chamber of Deputies during Sunday's election, two of Luxembourg's emerging political parties have expressed determination to cement their presence in the nation's political arena.
Sunday's election saw two entirely new parties fight for a place in the Chamber of Deputies. Despite not having gained a seat, both firmly believe that their number of votes speaks for them, leaving them resolved to further establish themselves in Luxembourg's political landscape.
Liberty
Liberty was only founded a couple of months ahead of election day, but managed to get enough candidates together to make a run for office. The party received 1.13% of the vote nationally.
"We did not celebrate our somewhat disappointing result. But, we celebrated that the Green Party has rightfully lost power as they are the exact opposite of what we believe in", commented Liberty founder and former member of the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR) Roy Reding.
Liberty will convene for a first time on 12 November to vote on the party's bye-laws and their committee.
Reding noted: "The most important thing is that people with a shared vision for politics in Luxembourg come together, those who want to work on setting up a [candidate] list for the European elections. People that want to be back again for the next Chamber elections."
Reding further underlined that his party is not designed to be a one-man-show and that he is slowly approaching retirement age.
Fokus
Political veterans Frank Engel and Marc Ruppert won 2.59% of the vote in Fokus' first run, a similar result to what the Pirate Party achieved in their first attempt. This means Fokus is now eligible for party financing, which allows them to stabilise, hire staff, and rent offices.
Engel explained: "This means it will be possible to further establish Fokus in the political landscape. At the same time we have the feeling of deep responsibility to live up to the votes and percentages that we received. And to continue in proper and decent fashion."
Fokus' positioning will largely depend on the orientation of the new government, elaborated Rupert. He expects that "it will likely continue exactly the same. This will mean we cannot complete the tax reform because the [Democratic Party] does not want that at this time. It will be blamed on the DP and the CSV will take over those areas that interest them, continuing with the same policies that they made before 2013. No substantial and sustainable reforms."
It thus appears that Engel is not quite ready to throw in the political towel and retire for good, even if he alluded to this in the heat of the moment after the election on Sunday.
