Juncker crosses his fingers
October 20, 2013
Polls closed in Luxembourg on Sunday in a national election that came seven months ahead of schedule. Juncker called for the early vote after a parliamentary inquiry in July credited him with some of the blame for abuses that occurred in the country's intelligence service.
Parliament found that Luxembourg's spy agency, the SREL, had illegally wire-tapped politicians and accepted bribes. The inquiry also found that Juncker had failed to maintain appropriate influence over the spy service. He offered his resignation and called for the early elections as a result of the investigation.
Juncker, 58, has held the Luxembourg premiership as leader of the country's Christian Social Party (CSV) since 1995. The CSV has supplied the prime minister in every election but one since World War II, but Juncker's party lost the support of its coalition party, the Social Democrats, after the scandal in July. Juncker also served as head of the Eurogroup (eurozone finance ministers) for an eight-year period that ended in January.
Polls suggest Juncker's party will win the election, but it is unclear who he would turn to to form a coalition.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has about 500,000 citizens, and around 238,000 are eligible to vote.
mz/tj (AP, AFP, dpa)