60 seats in the Chamber of Deputies are up for grabs in Sunday’s election, 21 of them in the central constituency. Though two fewer than in the South, the Centre is still one of the bigger districts with more than twice the number of seats than the North and East.
After the last election in 2018, the 21 seats were distributed as follows: seven for the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) (-1 from 2013), five for the Democratic Party (DP) (-1), four for The Greens (+2), two for the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) (-1), one for the Left, one for the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR), and one for the Pirate Party (+1).
19 of the 21 MPs were directly elected, meaning they crossed the minimum vote threshold. The last two seats went to the CSV and to the Greens.
The CSV’s lead candidate Luc Frieden will be a newcomer in the race as he celebrates his political comeback after being on the sidelines for close to a decade. In 2013, he still gathered the biggest vote tally in the Centre. After he decided to no longer run in 2018, he was replaced by Claude Wiserler, who received the most votes in the Centre, though down by 2,000 ballots compared to his predecessor.
There are no major changes to report for the DP and the Greens. PM Xavier Bettel remains leader for the DP while the Greens have put their faith in Sam Tanson. Though François Bausch is also running again, he has already stated that he is only eyeing a seat in the Chamber and no longer wants to take on an official role in the administration. The same goes for the DP’s Corinne Cahen.
The LSAP, on the other hand, has opted for somewhat of an overhaul of its candidate list. Instead of Etienne Schneider and Marc Angel, the lead candidates will be Francine Closener and Franz Fayot.
The ADR will be headed by Alex Penning and Tom Weidig after former party member Roy Reding has decided to form his own movement, called Liberty.
David Wagner will be the main lead candidate for The Left as Nathalie Oberweis, who received the party’s second-best vote tally in 2018, has refrained from running for office.
Sven Clement remains the sole leader for the Pirates.
73,000 voters were registered in the central constituency in 2018. However, only 1,244,000 out of 1,158,000 possible votes were cast in the end. 59,000 out of 63,500 ballots were considered valid.
