Participation in local elections made easier for non-nationals

On wednesday, July 13th, the Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of bill 7877. This bill’s adoption means it’s now easier than ever for non-nationals to vote and run in the local elections. This is a significant change: before this you had to live in Luxembourg for no less than 5 years to earn local voting rights.

The bill, however, doesn’t in any way allow non-citizens to participate in national elections.

56 out of 60 MPs voted in favor of the bill. The only ones against it were the conservative ADR representatives. The bill was passed just a year before the next local elections, held every 6 years. And it may seriously change the landscape of these future elections.

Non-citizens comprise 47% of the entire Luxembourg population. 151 938 of them could have participated in the previous local election cycle back in 2017. But only 34 638 (22,8%) did. And 75 226 more non-nationals were simply excluded from the elections, since they haven’t spent 5 years in the country yet.

Only 270 out of 3 575 candidates were non-nationals in 2017. And only 15 of those 270 got elected.

Next year, that may change. Non-nationals can now register for voting longer. In 2017 the final registration date was 87 days before the election itself. Now they can register as late as 55 days before the election.

The deputies hope that this and other measures will bring more non-nationals to the local elections. For Luxembourg these are very important. Communes make many decisions entirely on the local level: from solving transport issues and providing pre-school education to creating and realizing big commune development plans.

Want to know more about Luxembourg getting ready for the 2023 election cycle? Read our article about the national integration projects meant to attract young people and non-nationals to the elections.