Greens would lose votes if election took place in June

The Greens (déi Gréng) would be the only coalition party to lose voters in Luxembourg’s national election if people were to go to the ballots this month, a newly-published survey shows. 

The party would lose 1.7% of votes compared with the result of the last election in 2018, while the other two coalition parties, the democratic party (DP) and the social democrats (LSAP) would gain 1.8% and 1% respectively.

This would mean the Greens would lose a seat whereas the other two parties would gain one each. If the current DP, LSAP, déi Gréng coalition decided to stick together again, they would collectively gain one seat, allowing them to stay in government, while the opposition would lose one seat.

The twice-yearly survey, which questioned more than 1,800 voters earlier this month, asked how they would vote if elections were taking place on the coming Sunday.

Almost a quarter of respondents said they would vote for the main opposition party, the Christian democrats (CSV), 19.3% would vote for DP, 17.8% for LSAP and 13.4% for the Greens.

Although the CSV gained the highest percentage of support from the survey participants, it represents a 4.3% drop compared with the 28.9% of votes the party gained at the 2018 election, and four fewer seats.

Compared with another survey carried out in November 2020, the Greens fared well in June, with almost 2% more votes. The DP, LSAP and CSV had all lost votes in June compared with the survey carried out six months ago.

In a similar survey also carried out in June, health minister Paulette Lenert and foreign affairs minister Jean Asselborn, both of the LSAP, proved to be Luxembourg’s most popular politicians.

Lenert has been in the public eye for the past year as she led the country through the coronavirus pandemic. Prime minister Xavier Bettel came in third place while ministers for the Green party fared poorly.

Polling company TNS conducted the survey between 9 June and 21 June on behalf of the Luxemburger Wort and broadcaster RTL.

(Additional reporting by Yannick Lambert)

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