The CSV finished with seven seats more than the DP - the second-strongest party - on Sunday. Frieden said this meant the party had voters’ support to help form a government after the Greens lost five seats, causing the coalition government to lose its majority. In a two-party coalition, he continued, the content would be less “diluted”.
As far as coalition negotiations go, it is less a question of time than of content and objective. In accordance with Luxembourgish procedures, the outgoing prime minister is expected to hand in the resignation of his government to the Grand Duke, after which point negotiations will be up to party leaders.
On Sunday night, the lead candidates appeared on RTL television to discuss the results.
Xavier Bettel expressed sympathy for the Greens’ poor performance, but praised the DP’s election results, calling them the biggest winner on the night. As the DP added two more seats to their Chamber tally - more than any other party - the outgoing Prime Minister argued his party had a responsibility to help form the government. Negotiations for a potential coalition would not start on election night, he said, pointing out that the DP shares similarities with the CSV, despite their differences. However, in order to advance, the country will need reforms, Bettel concluded.
The LSAP’s Paulette Lenert is also happy about her personal result in the East. She feels that her party was supported, but she would have liked to have received a second seat in that eastern election district. She is expecting coalition talks with Luc Frieden, even if he mostly talked about similarities between his party and the DP. But should the party’s roll be to be in the opposition she will gladly take on that role.
“We are still in shock”, says the Greens’ Sam Tanson, as her party was still reeling from the loss of five seats. The Greens plan to analyse what went wrong over the coming weeks, yet on election night, Tanson said she could not find any positives.
Fred Keup of the ADR declared himself very happy with the results. The ADR is now the 4th strongest party in the country, bringing their seat tally to five and thus delivering them more power in parliament.. “We stayed true to our values, and the voters honoured this tonight.”
Sven Clement described the Pirates receiving a second seat in the northern election district as an emotional high. But he is a bit disappointed that they also narrowly missed getting another seat. Nevertheless, he told RTL he feels as if the party’s additional seat is a reward for their work on the opposition benches.
Marc Baum is happy that the Left Party was able to keep their two seats in the Chamber, particularly as the election results showed a voter shift away from more left-wing politics. He stated that not talking about how further growth for Luxembourg would look like could have been a mistake, as the ADR was the only party who extensively made this a talking point of their campaign.
Once the government will be formed the current composition of the Chamber of Deputies will change, but for now it is made up of 42 men and 18 women.
