Previous Federal Councillors firmly in the saddle – Greens fail with attack
Published: Wednesday, Dec 13th 2023, 11:41
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The United Federal Assembly has opted for continuity in the overall renewal of the government: All six previous members of the Federal Council were easily re-elected in the first round of voting. The Greens failed even more clearly than four years ago in their renewed attack on a government seat.
The incumbent FDP Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, who was targeted by the Greens, did not have to tremble for long on Wednesday. The 62-year-old from Ticino was clearly elected with 167 out of 239 valid votes in the first round. The Green Party's candidate, National Councillor Gerhard Andrey from Fribourg, received 59 votes.
Cassis received significantly more votes than four years ago, when the Greens tried to force him out of office with Regula Rytz from Bern. Back then, Cassis received 145 out of 238 valid votes. Rytz received 82 votes.
The election of the second member of the Federal Council from the Free Democratic Party, Karin Keller-Sutter, was also unchallenged. The St. Gallen native received 176 out of 224 valid votes and can therefore co-govern for another four years. The Greens had indicated immediately before the election that they would not contest Keller-Sutter's seat.
Displeasure with Baume-Schneider
In recent history, all previous Federal Councillors who were not voted out of office have been re-elected in the first round of voting. This was also the case on Wednesday.
The best result this time was achieved by the longest-serving member of the Federal Council, Guy Parmelin (SVP), who has been Federal Councillor since 2015. The Vaud native received 215 votes. He was followed by Viola Amherd from the Centre Party (201), Albert Rösti (SVP), who has only been in office for a year, with 189 votes, and Karin Keller-Sutter (176) and Ignazio Cassis (167) from the Free Democrats.
Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (SP) achieved the worst result with 151 votes. The Minister of Justice has been in office for a year. She had a particularly difficult time with the asylum dossier. Many members of the middle classes are not satisfied with her work.
Greens express disappointment
The Greens expressed their disappointment after the failed attack. Margot Chauderna, Co-President of the Young Greens Switzerland, told the Keystone-SDA news agency in Bern after the results were announced. Parliament is afraid of change.
It was unclear who in particular supported the 47-year-old Andrey in his attack on the FDP seat. Federal Council elections are secret.
However, the SP parliamentary group had declared in advance that only a minority would support Andrey in order to break up the conservative majority in the government. A majority of the Social Democrats considered the Greens' candidacy to have no chance. They feared that support for Andrey could be misused to damage the SP and thus the left in the final election.
The GLP parliamentary group also announced in advance that part of the group would vote for Andrey instead of Cassis.
The SVP and the Center Party, on the other hand, did not want to change the party-political composition of the Federal Council. The parties had declared before the elections that they did not want to vote out any previous Federal Councillors.
Sixth attempt
The Green parliamentary group nominated Andrey in the fall to contest one of the two FDP seats in the Federal Council in the general elections for the new government. In the eyes of the Greens, the magic formula - two seats each for the SVP, SP and FDP and one for the center - is no longer in keeping with the times. They believe that the FDP is overrepresented in the seven-member government.
To date, the Greens have tried six times to win a seat in the national government, always in vain. The Greens launched their first official candidacy for a seat in the Federal Council in 2000, when they were seeking to succeed SVP Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi.
©Keystone/SDA
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