Luxembourg premier faces coalition talks after poll

Luxembourg’s liberal premier Xavier Bettel will meet the country’s Grand Duke on Monday to discuss whether he can maintain his coalition after an inconclusive legislative election.

As expected, the centre-right CSV beat Bettel’s DP by 28 percent to 17, according to the first provisional results, with the socialist LSAP now in third place with 16 percent.

But the CSV was the main force after the previous 2013 election too, and after that Bettel managed to form a ruling coalition with support from the left and the Greens.

The main parties remained on top Sunday, but smaller outfits made notable gains.

The Greens advanced strongly to 15 percent, the Pirate Party doubled its score, and the populist right ADR increased its share to nine percent.

The small Grand Duchy has an electorate of just 256,000 choosing 60 deputies, and Monday’s royal meeting will decide whether Bettel is again tasked with building a coalition.