Xavier Bettel: His government ‘confirmed’ after Luxembourg vote

In rarity, European election appears to confirm status quo.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel | Julien Warnand/EPA

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel’s declared voters have “confirmed” the current government in Sunday’s election after his coalition won just enough seats to stay in power.

“The electorate has moved things around internally in the government, but the voters have confirmed us,” Bettel said, according to the Luxembourg Times.

Polls ahead of the vote suggested Bettel’s time could be up, and the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) — which has dominated Luxembourg politics since the war — could return to power.

The current coalition government between Bettel’s Democratic Party, the Green Party and the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party together won 31 seats out of 60. These parties held 32 seats in the outgoing parliament.

The CSV, which by itself is the single largest party with 21 seats, could also reach a majority if it teams up with other parties, such as Bettel’s DP, Reuters reported.

The biggest winner is the Green Party, which gained three seats, while the DP lost one seat, the CSV lost two and the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party lost three.

Members of the Green Party also voiced optimism about retaining the current coalition.

“A coalition with the CSV is mathematically impossible, so there is only one possibility: a continuation of the three-party coalition,” said Green Party member and Justice Minister Félix Braz. “The coalition has done better than the polls and has been confirmed.”

Bettel took on the country’s top job in 2013 after a spying scandal involving the secret service toppled the government led by the Jean-Claude Juncker, now the European Commission president.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of seats held by Xavier Bettel’s coalition in the outgoing parliament.

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