Communist Party of Luxembourg Kommunistesch Partei vu Lëtzebuerg | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Ali Ruckert [lb][1] |
| Founded | 2 January 1921 |
| Split from | Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party |
| Headquarters | 3, rue Zénon Bernard Esch-sur-Alzette |
| Newspaper | Zeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek |
| Ideology | Communism Marxism–Leninism Hard Euroscepticism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| International affiliation | IMCWP |
| Colours | Red |
| Chamber of Deputies | 0 / 60 |
| European Parliament | 0 / 6 |
| Local councils | 1 / 722 |
| Website | |
| kommunisten.lu | |
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TheCommunist Party of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish:Kommunistesch Partei vu Lëtzebuerg;French:Parti Communiste Luxembourgeois;German:Kommunistische Partei Luxemburgs;KPL orPCL) is acommunist party inLuxembourg.Ali Ruckert [lb] is the current chairman of the party.[2]
The KPL was founded on 2 January 1921, in the town ofNiederkorn, making it one of the oldest parties inLuxembourg. In 1937, the Bech government attempted to introduce the so-calledMaulkuerfgesetz ("Muzzle law") which would have banned the party. The law was abandoned after failing to achieve popular support in a national referendum.
Following the end of theSecond World War, the party, which won 11.1% in the legislative elections, joined theNational Union Government (1945–47). Its first minister wasCharles Marx. After Marx's death in a 1946car accident, he was replaced byDominique Urbany. After the death of the leader of theLSAP, the coalition collapsed. With the principle of an all-inclusive government gone, the KPL was excluded from the next government and never returned another member to the cabinet.
In 1964, theUnited StatesState Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 500.[3] Inlegislative elections held in the same year, the party registered 10.4% of the vote, and won five of theChamber of Deputies' 56 seats. The party's representation in the Chamber peaked at thefollowing election, with six deputies, but fell, until the KPL lost its last remaining deputy in1994. In the same year a minority opposing the Marxist-Leninist line of the party split and founded theNew Left (Luxembourgish:Nei Lénk) together with the rest of theRevolutionary Socialist Party (Luxembourgish:Revolutionär Sozialistesch Partei).
In 1999, the KPL and the New Left agreed to foundThe Left (Luxembourgish:Déi Lénk). The Left had members of both parties and independents. Accordingly, KPL members ran on The Left lists in the1999 and 2000 elections and no separate KPL lists existed. After disputes between a majority within the Left and leading KPL members shortly before the2004 elections the party again ran separate lists. A number of the Left members were subsequently expelled from the KPL.
The KPL is represented locally on the councils ofDifferdange andRumelange. In Rumelange, it is part of the ruling coalition together with theLSAP.[4][needs update?]
| Year | Votes | % | Elected seats | Seats after | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1922[a] | 6,976 | 1.0 (#5) | 0 / 25 | 0 / 48 | New | Extra-parliamentary |
| 1925 | 15,443 | 0.9 (#11) | 0 / 47 |  0 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| 1928[a] | Did not participate | 0 / 28 | 0 / 52 | 0 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| 1931[a] | 6,264 | 0.7 (#8) | 0 / 27 | 0 / 54 | 0 | Extra-parliamentary |
| 1934[a] | 70,940 | 5.2 (#4) | 1 / 29 | 1 / 54 |  1 | Opposition |
| 1937[a] | Did not participate | 0 / 26 | 0 / 55 |  1 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| 1945 | 295,701 | 11.1 (#4) | 5 / 51 | 5 | Coalition | |
| 1948[a] | 195,956 | 14.3 (#3) | 4 / 26 | 5 / 51 | 0 | Opposition |
| 1951[a] | 35,662 | 3.2 (#4) | 0 / 26 | 4 / 52 | 1 | Opposition |
| 1954 | 211,171 | 7.3 (#4) | 3 / 52 | 1 | Opposition | |
| 1959 | 220,425 | 7.2 (#4) | 3 / 52 | 0 | Opposition | |
| 1964 | 330,909 | 10.4 (#3) | 5 / 56 | 2 | Opposition | |
| 1968 | 402,610 | 13.1 (#4) | 6 / 56 | 1 | Opposition | |
| 1974 | 314,635 | 8.8 (#4) | 5 / 59 | 1 | Opposition | |
| 1979 | 177,286 | 4.9 (#5) | 2 / 59 | 3 | Opposition | |
| 1984 | 165,960 | 4.4 (#5) | 2 / 64 | 0 | Opposition | |
| 1989 | 157,608 | 4.4 (#5) | 1 / 60 | 1 | Opposition | |
| 1994 | 57,646 | 1.7 (#7) | 0 / 60 | 1 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| 1999[b] | 110,274 | 3.3 (#6) | 1 / 60 | 1 | Opposition | |
| 2004 | 35,524 | 0.9 (#7) | 0 / 60 | 1 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| 2009 | 49,108 | 1.4 (#7) | 0 / 60 | 0 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| 2013 | 53,669 | 1.6 (#8) | 0 / 60 | 0 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| 2018 | 44,916 | 1.3 (#8) | 0 / 60 | 0 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| 2023 | 24,275 | 0.6 (#10) | 0 / 60 | 0 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | René Urbany | 48,813 | 5.01 (#5) | 0 / 6 | New | – |
| 1984 | 40,395 | 4.08 (#5) | 0 / 6 | 0 | ||
| 1989 | 46,791 | 4.71 (#5) | 0 / 6 | 0 | ||
| 1994 | Aloyse Bisdorff | 16,559 | 1.63 (#7) | 0 / 6 | 0 | |
| 1999 | Did not contest | 0 / 6 | 0 | |||
| 2004 | Zénon Bernard | 12,800 | 1.17 (#7) | 0 / 6 | 0 | |
| 2009 | Ali Ruckert | 17,304 | 1.54 (#7) | 0 / 6 | 0 | |
| 2014 | 17,506 | 1.49 (#0) | 0 / 6 | 0 | ||
| 2019 | 14,323 | 1.14 (#9) | 0 / 6 | 0 | ||
| 2024 | 13,368 | 0.97 (#10) | 0 / 6 | 0 | ||
| International | |
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| Other | |
