A referendum in Luxembourg on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected giving full voting rights to foreigners.
Foreigners, particularly Portuguese, comprise almost half of the country´s tiny population of half a million.
Nearly 78% of Luxembourgers voted against letting foreigners participate in the voting process.
Had the vote been positive, Luxembourg would have been the first European Union country to extend the vote to foreign-born residents. At the same time, however, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said “there is no other European country where only 40% of the population elects its representatives.”
About 46% of the total population of 565,000 people are foreigners. Portuguese people make up 16.4%, followed by French 7%, Italians 3.5%, Belgians 3.3% and Germans 2.3%.
Amongst the Non-European residents are people from Cape Verde, north America and China.
Mr Bettel had pushed for the referendum, hoping a yes outcome would boost the democratic credentials of the wealthy nation. But the nation was divided on the issue.
One voter pointed to an easy solution. More foreigners could be given citizenship.
Former PM and now president of the European Parliament Jean Claude Junker’s Christian Social People’s party had called not surprisingly for a “No” vote, while the business community and civil society groups backed the “Yes” campaign.
