ASTI-ILRES Survey Shows 58% of Luxembourgers Support Foreigner Voting Rights

On Monday 2 June 2025, the Association de Soutien aux Travailleurs Immigrés (ASTI), a local non-profit organisation supporting immigrant workers, unveiled the results of a recent survey on political participation in Luxembourg.

On 7 June 2015, Luxembourg held a referendum asking voters three questions: should Luxembourg lower the voting age from eighteen to sixteen (80.87% said no), should foreign residents have the right to vote in the national elections (subject to certain conditions; 78.02% said no), and should there be a ten-year limit on terms continuously served by a member of government (69.93% said no).

Ten years on, ASTI commissioned an ILRES poll asking people in Luxembourg how they would now respond to the first two questions on voting rights. A total of 1,012 Luxembourgish residents (of various nationalities) aged sixteen and up took part in the survey between 22 and 30 April 2025. Among them were 574 voters (i.e. Luxembourgish nationals over the age of eighteen).

Asked whether the voting age should be lowered to sixteen, 46% of all respondents said yes, while 40% said no; 12% were undecided and 2% gave no response. The figures were similar among the eligible Luxembourgish voters who responded: 46% said yes, 43% said no, 9% were undecided and 2% did not give an answer.

Looking at these figures in more detail, ASTI found that 59% of sixteen- to 24-year-old respondents had answered positively (yes) to this question; this dropped to less than 50% for respondents aged 45+ and to just 33% among those aged 65+. Among eligible Luxembourgish voters, 52% of women had said yes, compared to 40% of men. Answers varied according to political party preferences as well (further right less likely to say yes).

For the second question, 66% of respondents aged sixteen and over agreed with allowing non-Luxembourgish residents to vote in the national elections, provided they have lived in Luxembourg for at least ten years and have already voted in the municipal or European elections; 25% said no, while 7% were undecided and 2% did not respond. Among Luxembourgish voters, 58% said they were in favour of the idea, compared to 34% who were against; 6% were undecided and 1% did not respond.

ASTI noted that there was no significant difference in answers according to age in this case. 70% of all women and 61% of all men interviewed favoured the idea; similarly, 65% of female voters and 51% of male voters were in favour. 56% of Luxembourgers with no other nationality said yes, compared to 65% of Luxembourgers with at least one other nationality and 75% of non-Luxembourgish respondents.

ASTI added that the results differed according to level of studies (from lowest to highest level of education: 44% to 70% said yes) and income (from lowest to highest: 56% to 64% said yes) and political party preferences (further right again less likely to be in favour).

In its press release issued on Monday, ASTI emphasised that the decision to reject extending voting rights to foreign residents and younger people in the 2015 referendum "continues to fuel a major democratic deficit" in the Grand Duchy.

The non-profit organisation recalled that 48% of Luxembourg's residents are non-nationals and therefore do not have the right to vote in the legislative (national) elections. ASTI argued that "this democratic paradox is gradually undermining the legitimacy of the current political system". It noted that the recent survey indicated "a positive shift" in the electorate compared to the 2015 referendum results.

ASTI urged Luxembourg's political leaders to "demonstrate political courage and democratic imagination", particularly in today's challenging global context. To encourage debate on the subject, ASTI is organising several conferences, roundtable discussions and citizens' cafés during the month of June.

ASTI has called for "a reestablishment of Luxembourg's democratic contract" and offered two concrete proposals: granting voting rights to all residents, regardless of their nationality, after a reasonable period of residence; the creation of a "Chamber of Citizens", attached to the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg's parliament), to inform parliamentary legislative work with concrete reflections and proposals. ASTI noted that it had already proposed this during the 2023 national elections.

"A full and vibrant democracy cannot ignore nearly half of its population," the non-profit continued. "Without equitable political representation, social cohesion itself is threatened. Living together cannot be based sustainably on unequal civil rights. Only under this condition will Luxembourg be able to continue to embody an open, equitable and forward-looking society."

Further details about the survey and events organised by ASTI are available online at https://www.asti.lu/10-ans-apres-le-referendum-de-2015-pour-une-refondation-du-contrat-democratique-luxembourgeois/