Foreign residents must ‘make their voices heard’

To boost the percentage of foreign voters in municipal elections, which currently stands at 11%, Cefis trains volunteers who then raise awareness in their community. The exercises are scheduled for January and February.

Less than six months before the next municipal elections, scheduled for June 11, the Center for Intercultural and Social Study and Training (Cefis) is mobilizing, with one goal: to increase the rate of registration of foreign residents on electoral rolls. It peaked at 11%, far from the 23% reached in 2017.

Numbers to bear in mind, however, as, in the meantime, the conditions for access to voting have evolved: there is no longer a need to justify five years of residence in a territory in order to be able to exercise one’s right to citizenship at the municipal level.

A true democratic deficit

This leads to a significant change in the position of Cefis, which is responsible for raising awareness: “This expands the number of eligible people, and therefore our target audience, since Luxembourg has 32% of foreign residents who have been living there for less than five years,” explains the deputy director. Frederick Mertz.

While voting is a civil right available to foreigners in local elections across Europe, in Luxembourg it is more important than anywhere else, given the large proportion of the non-Luxembourgish population: , a real democratic deficit, ”the expert notes.

This is the case in the capital, which is home to 70% of foreigners, but only 14% of whom are voters. Few are involved in this process, which is considered useless, as they often go through. Another challenge: “The newcomers are younger and are not necessarily interested in politics. This is why we organize specific activities, in youth centers in particular,” he describes, adding that over the course of ten years, many nationalities have been represented, as he was The Portuguese, Belgians, French and Germans previously accounted for more than 80% of the new residents.

“Complications” at work

Another determining factor for voting: length of stay. “We notice that foreign residents who have been here for a long time are more integrated and participate more easily in local political life. As is the case in Larochette.”

To convince them to take the plunge, Civis relaunched it their “multiple” formations It was introduced in 2017 and it has borne fruit: the registration rate increased from 16%, a year before the election, to 23% on the day of the drop. Find the right words, ”determines the deputy director.

Dozens of participatory workshops have been held in recent months, allowing to weave a network of about a hundred “multiples”, while about forty will be registered in 2023. Among them, a third of Luxembourgers are dual nationals, but also 15% are French and Americans. 15% are Portuguese who are members of municipal advisory committees reserved for foreigners, associations or individuals.

Concretely, the training is distributed over two evenings, in which legal aspects are discussed, conditions for registration in the lists, the peculiarities of the electoral system or the importance of these elections, in a country where municipalities accumulate many powers and enjoy great powers. independence.

“We are not talking here about the European budget or economic recovery: municipal elections have an impact on people’s daily lives – school, garbage collection, associations. Hence the importance of making their voices heard,” notes Frédéric Merz.

If you would like to become one of these “multiples”, contact Cefis. The next training will take place in French on January 17 and 19, at 5 avenue Marie-Thérèse in Luxembourg. Video training will be held on February 7th and 9th at the same times.