Jean-Claude Juncker faces toughest election

Voters in Luxembourg went to the polls on Sunday as Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Europe's longest-serving leader, faced his toughest election yet after 18 years at the helm.

The elections follow a scandal over misconduct by the secret service that fractured the coalition government headed by Juncker's Christian Social People's Party (CSV).

Its junior Socialist Party (LSAP) partners withheld support when opponents accused the premier of having been too busy steering the euro currency through crisis -- in his capacity as head of the Eurogroup -- to get his dysfunctional intelligence service back on track.

Misdemeanours by the SREL secret service, which the premier is supposed to oversee, included illegal phone taps, corruption and even dodgy dealings in luxury cars.

Polls opened at 8:00am and are due to close at 2:00pm as the Liberals and Greens appear poised to make enough gains to enable them to propose a new coalition with the Socialists.

Aged 58, Juncker, who first became premier in 1995, has spent literally half his life in government.

According to AP, though Luxembourgers deem Juncker competent to continue to steer the state, surveys show a younger generation of politicians increasingly picking up support, notably 40-year-old Liberal Party chief Xavier Bettel.

Also expected to make gains is Greens newcomer Francois Bausch, who for the past three years has run the Luxembourg town hall with Bettel.