The Party System
In 1918, towards the end of the First World War, a new Chamber of Deputies was elected with the explicit ambition of reviewing the constitution. To this end, formalised parties were formed by the main political blocs, so as to increase their bargaining power in the negotiations. The revisions to the constitution introduced universal suffrage and compulsory voting, adopted proportional representation, and limited the sovereignty of the monarch.
Since the foundation of the party system, only one cabinet (between 1921 and 1925) has not included members of more than one party. Most of the time, governments are grand coalitions of the two largest parties, no matter their ideology; this has made Luxembourg one of the most stable democracies in the world. Two cabinets (between 1945 and 1947) included members of every party represented in the Chamber of Deputies.
During the occupation of Luxembourg by Nazi Germany, Luxembourg was governed by a Nazi Party official, Gustav Simon. Pierre Dupong continued to lead the government in exile in the United Kingdom until the liberation of Luxembourg in December 1944, whereupon the constitutional Luxembourg government returned to the Grand Duchy. Thus, although Luxembourg was formally annexed on 30 August 1942, the Prime Minister of the government in exile, Pierre Dupong, is assumed to have remained Prime Minister throughout.
Political Party: PD PNI CSV DP
| Prime Minister | Party | Term of office | Government | Coalition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Émile Reuter | PD | 28 September 1918 |
20 March 1925 |
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| Pierre Prüm | PNI | 20 March 1925 | 16 July 1926 | |||||
| Joseph Bech (1st time) |
PD | 16 July 1926 |
5 November 1937 |
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| Pierre Dupong | PD | 5 November 1937 |
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| CSV | 23 December 1953 |
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| Joseph Bech (2nd time) |
CSV | 29 December 1953 |
29 March 1958 |
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| Pierre Frieden | CSV | 29 March 1958 | 23 February 1959 | |||||
| Pierre Werner (1st time) |
CSV | 2 March 1959 |
15 June 1974 |
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| Gaston Thorn | DP | 15 June 1974 |
16 July 1979 |
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| Pierre Werner (2nd time) |
CSV | 16 July 1979 |
20 July 1984 |
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| Jacques Santer | CSV | 20 July 1984 |
26 January 1995 |
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| Jean-Claude Juncker | CSV | 26 January 1995 |
Incumbent |
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Read more about this topic: List Of Prime Ministers Of Luxembourg
Famous quotes containing the words party and/or system:
“When the doctrine of allegiance to party can utterly up-end a man’s moral constitution and make a temporary fool of him besides, what excuse are you going to offer for preaching it, teaching it, extending it, perpetuating it? Shall you say, the best good of the country demands allegiance to party? Shall you also say it demands that a man kick his truth and his conscience into the gutter, and become a mouthing lunatic, besides?”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“In the course of the actual attainment of selfish ends—an attainment conditioned in this way by universality—there is formed a system of complete interdependence, wherein the livelihood, happiness, and legal status of one man is interwoven with the livelihood, happiness, and rights of all. On this system, individual happiness, etc. depend, and only in this connected system are they actualized and secured.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)