Corinne Cahen, Taina Bofferding and Sam Tanson presented changes for the upcoming communal elections

The Minister for Home Affairs confirmed the date of the next municipal elections: 11 June 2023. As the national elections will take place in October 2023, the municipal elections are advanced accordingly.

"The municipalities are the heart of our democracy. Decisions made on this level directly affect our citizens, and consequences are felt in everyday life. Therefore, we must enable our entire population to participate in municipal elections and become active in local politics! This is a clear priority for this coalition!", Taina Bofferding highlighted.

The advancement of the municipal elections means that certain provisions of the municipal law must be adapted in order to guarantee legal certainty. In addition, the way on how to determine the number of local council members in each municipality will be adapted. As requested by several municipalities, the national register of natural persons (RNPP) will henceforth serve as reference basis to determine the number of council members.

Participation of non-Luxembourg nationals in municipal elections

All citizens must be able to participate in municipal elections, regardless of their nationality and length of residence. In order to facilitate access to voting for foreign nationals, the government has decided to abolish the 5-year residence requirement for all non-Luxembourg citizens, whether they are European or from a third country.

The Minister for Family Affairs and Integration, Corinne Cahen, explained that in future every citizen could participate in local (and European) elections, regardless of how long they have lived in the municipality.

According to figures from the Ministry of Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region and the Centre for Intercultural and Social Studies and Training (CEFIS), 33% (75,226 people) were unable to register to vote before the 2017 elections because they had not lived in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for at least 5 years.

The Minister for Family Affairs and Integration stressed the importance and impact of this change: "People get the right to vote as soon as they arrive in their commune. They can immediately participate in political life and they can integrate more easily by taking an interest in the political decisions that affect their lives."

Another important change to increase political participation concerns the deadline for non-Luxembourg nationals to register to vote. In order to allow more non-Luxembourg citizens to participate in municipal elections, the government aims to extend the deadline for non-Luxembourg citizens to register to vote by 32 days. Thus, the last day of registration on the electoral roll, and therefore the day of the provisional closure of the roll, will be postponed from the 87th to the 55th day before the elections.

Introduction of an accelerated appeal procedure before the Administrative Court

Persons who are unsuccessful in their complaints about their registration on the electoral roll with the Mayor and Aldermen's Council have the possibility of lodging an appeal with the Administrative Court. In order to enable potential applicants to obtain a decision on their application as quickly as possible, an accelerated procedure has been introduced, as it already exists for administrative detention matters. Thus, the Administrative Court will hand down its decision within ten days (instead of the current 21 days) after the application has been submitted.

The Minister of Justice emphasised the importance of reducing the registration deadlines as much as possible: "In order to facilitate the registration of non-Luxembourg nationals on the electoral roll, we have introduced an accelerated procedure with the Administrative Court. This measure will save a considerable amount of time for the entire required registration process. Our ultimate goal remains to include our non-Luxembourg citizens in the democratic process, because we consider the right to vote to be an essential factor of integration."

Press release by the Ministry of Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Justice