The Left (Luxembourg)

The Left (Luxembourgish: Déi Lénk, French: La Gauche, German: Die Linken) is a democratic socialist political party in Luxembourg. The Left was formed on 30 January 1999 by a group of like minded activists, many of them affiliated with existing political parties, notably the Communist Party of Luxembourg (KPL), the New Left, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP). One of the aims of this new organisation was to present a further leftist alternative to social democracy.

In the 1999 national elections, the Left won 3.3% of the votes and one seat in the parliament; André Hoffmann was elected from the southern constituency. In 2000, after anticipated elections in the city of Esch sur Alzette, Hoffmann became deputy mayor and Aloyse Bisdorff (KPL) succeeded him in parliament. Then, in 2002, in accordance with the Left's statutes, Bisdorff resigned from parliament and was succeeded by Serge Urbany.

Later, however, a dispute arose between a number of members of the Communist Party and the majority of the Left. As a consequence, the KPL and the Left ran separate lists in the 2004 elections. The Left won 1.9% of the votes, and accordingly lost its parliamentary presence. In the 2009 elections, it increased its share of the vote to 3.3%. As a result, Hoffmann returned to Parliament as the Left's sole representative - Hoffmann's personal vote of 9,067 in the south constituency was almost equal to the total number of votes gathered by the Communist Party, which won 10,803 votes.

The Left is associated with the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group in the European Parliament. It does not currently have any members in the parliament, however. The party participates both in the European Anticapitalist Left and the Party of the European Left.