The Government Coordinating Office and its missions
On Sunday 26 May 2019, the European elections will take place in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The Government Coordinating Office ("Bureau centralisateur gouvernemental", BCG), set up for each legislative, European or municipal general election, is responsible for determining and disseminating the informal results of these elections.
In order to ensure the prompt establishment of the results, 92 government officials work on election day for the BCG. Most of the staff are present at the Government IT Centre ("Centre des technologies de l'information de l'État", CTIE), but BCG branches are also located in the main polling stations of Luxembourg City and Esch-sur-Alzette.
The elections.public.lu website
On election day, the complete informal results will be published on the official election website in Luxembourg after 11 pm, in accordance with the 1976 Act regarding the election of Members of the European Parliament, which stipulates that Member States may only make the results of their elections public after the closure of the last polling station at EU level.
After publication, the website will present the full results of the European elections at national and municipal level as well as by party and candidate. The website will also allow users to compare the results of the 2019 European elections with those of 2014.
In order to make information on elections in Luxembourg accessible to all citizens, the elections.public.lu website has been translated into the four vehicular languages of the Grand Duchy: French, German, English and Luxembourgish.
In order to allow anyone, regardless of their specific needs, to participate in elections, the website now also presents essential information in an easy-to-read language. These documents can be downloaded in several language versions on the " Accessibility " page.
Key figures
Please note that these figures are likely to change very slightly until election day (in the event of death, relocation, etc.) Most of the data used can be downloaded from the government's Open Data portal. The figures shown reflect the status as at 17 May 2019.
Candidates for the European elections
In total, 10 parties submitted a full list of 6 candidates for the European elections on 26 May 2019. Of these 60 candidates in total, 32 are men and 28 are women.
The average general age is 43.9 years, the average age of women is 40 years, that of men 47 years. As regards the distribution of candidates over different age groups, 15 candidates are between 20 and 29 years old, 13 are between 30 and 39 years old, 5 are between 40 and 49 years old, 17 between 50 and 59 years old, 7 between 60 and 69 years old and 3 candidates are between 70 and 79 years old.
The voters
283,683 voters are currently registered on the electoral lists for the European elections. Compared to the last European elections in 2014, for which 264,183 voters were registered, this represents a net increase of 19,500 voters.
The number of registered voters varies considerably between the different municipalities in the Grand Duchy: while the smallest municipality, Saeul, has only 521 voters, Luxembourg City, in the lead, has 35,288 voters.
Non-Luxembourgish EU voters
Until 28 February 2019, non-Luxembourgish nationals of an EU Member State with their residence in Luxembourg could register on the electoral lists for the 2019 European elections. Currently, 23,175 non-Luxembourgish EU nationals are registered on the electoral lists for the European elections. In the last European elections in 2014, there were 21,650 foreign voters on the lists. The number of foreigners registered has therefore increased by 1,525 people (+7%).
Since the last European elections on 25 May 2014, a total of 7,209 non-Luxembourgish EU nationals have registered on the voters' lists for the European elections. The registration rate, i.e. the percentage of foreign registered voters in relation to the potential electorate (foreign residents who are EU nationals aged 18 and over) is 11.8%, a slight decrease from 12.2% in 2014. The electoral weight, i.e. the percentage of registered non-Luxembourgish EU citizens in relation to the total electorate in the Grand Duchy, remained unchanged at 8.2% between 2014 and 2019.
Among the registered foreign voters, the Portuguese are the most numerous, in absolute terms, with 7,765 registered, which corresponds to 10.3% of the Portuguese resident population. They are followed by the French with 4,301 (11.5% of the French population), Italians with 2,847 (14,8%), Belgians with 2,466 (14.7%) and Germans with 2,149 registered (19.7%).
At municipal level, considerable differences can be observed in the number of non-Luxembourgish EU citizens registered on the electoral lists and their electoral weight. Thus, the country's large cities generally have an electoral weight of more than 8%, while this rate falls below 5% for municipalities with fewer than 1,000 registered voters.
Key dates to remember:
In order to guarantee the timely arrival of their ballots, voters residing in Luxembourg who are voting by post have to send their ballot by post no later than Friday 24 May 2014, before the last collection of the post indicated on the letter box.
Voters who have not sent their ballot by post may still hand in their yellow transmission envelope, containing the folded ballot and the ballot envelope, at the main polling station of their municipality between 8 am. and 2 pm. on election day.
No later than 21 May 2019, electors registered on the lists of voters will receive a summons, specifying the date, the opening and closing times of the poll and the venue where the election will take place.
Polling stations are open to voters from 8 am. to 2 pm. All voters may go to the polling station with their identity card or passport.
Press release by the Government Coordinating Office / Information and Press Service