The government last September had proposed requirement for non-nationals to participate in local elections as well as extending the period during which foreigners can register to vote.

Members of parliament met on Monday to discuss the bill after the Council of State had criticised a lack of clarity on a number of details, such as the type of residence permit that is required to vote. MPs, for example, questioned whether refugees from Ukraine under permanent protection would be allowed to vote.

Lawmakers agreed to iron out these final questions in the coming week to proceed to a vote on the bill at speed, before mid-July when parliament breaks for the summer. The next local elections are scheduled for June 2023.

Unlike Luxembourg nationals, foreigners must sign up to vote. Once they have done so, voting is mandatory, as it is for Luxembourgers living in the country. The deadline to register to vote under the new law is being shorted from 87 days before the election to 55. This will give foreigners more time to register to vote in the run-up to the elections.

And while non-nationals must currently live in Luxembourg for five years before they can vote or stand for election in their commune, this requirement will be scrapped. Luxembourg was the only EU country to have this residency clause. On the other hand, it is also one of the only EU member countries to have extended the right to vote in local elections to non-EU citizens.

Less than a third of foreigners (22.8%) registered to vote in the last local elections in 2017. This was up from a rate of 17% for the previous election in 2011 and was slightly higher among EU nationals (23.2%) than third-country nationals (19.7%). But around a third of foreigners living in Luxembourg--75,226 people--weren’t eligible to vote because of the residency requirement.

Only 270 non-nationals ran for election, out of 3,575 candidates in total. Only 15 foreigners were elected into office.  

Foreigners make up around 47% of Luxembourg’s population. They are, however, barred from participating in national elections under the country’s constitution. Many aspects of daily life are regulated by communes, including different areas of transport, pre- and primary school education, as well as housing and development plans.