Civic duel for vacant seat in the Council of States in Aargau
Published: Monday, Nov 13th 2023, 09:40
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The SVP and the centrist parties are engaged in an exchange of blows in the run-off election for the vacant SVP seat in the Council of States in the canton of Aargau. The outcome of the race between centrist National Councillor Marianne Binder-Keller and SVP National Councillor Benjamin Giezendanner is still open.
The decisive factors on 19 November will be voter turnout and the mobilization of the political camps. As a National Councillor, Giezendanner received the best result of all candidates. And Keller-Binder is the queen of panache: no one collected more votes on lists from other parties.
In the first round of voting for the Council of States, Giezendanner was in first place among those not elected. National Councillor Binder-Keller even finished behind SP National Councillor Gabriela Suter.
However, the cards have been reshuffled for the run-off. Suter as well as National Councillor Irène Kälin (Greens), Barbara Portmann (GLP) and National Councillor Lilian Studer (EPP), who was not re-elected, have conceded. All these parties are backing the centrist candidate Binder-Keller.
Men in the Council of States?
They want to prevent Aargau, whose cantonal government consists solely of men, from continuing to be represented by two men in the Council of States. It is also a question of whether the right-wing politician Giezendanner will take a seat in the Council of States alongside the re-elected FDP member of the Council of States and party president Thierry Burkart.
The SVP is at pains to place Binder-Keller in the left corner. However, she is a clearly bourgeois politician who is positioned on the right within her own party. She has now completely dispensed with the party logo on her posters.
In the election campaign, the rivals are also trying to highlight age as a difference: Binder-Keller is 65 years old, Giezendanner is 41. As a pensioner, isn't Binder-Keller too old for the Council of States? That is one of the questions. Or does Giezendanner have enough time for everything as a transport entrepreneur, president of the cantonal trade association and family man?
Both come from political families
Giezendanner from Westaargau is an affable and jovial SVP politician. He is present and well-known in Aargau. The FDP officially supports Giezendanner. He largely dispenses with the green party logo in his election advertising. Where it does appear, it is only small and in black and white.
His father, Ulrich Giezendanner, already tried to hold onto the seat in the Council of States for the SVP in 2011. However, he was defeated by Pascale Bruderer (SP) in the second round of voting.
Center Cantonal President Binder-Keller also has family roots in politics - and she comes from the densely populated Ostaargau region.
Her father, Anton Keller, was a long-time CVP National Councillor, her father-in-law Julius Binder was a long-time CVP Councillor of States. A decade ago, the "Aargauer Zeitung" wrote of the "CVP Kennedys from Baden".
If Binder-Keller is elected to the Council of States, she will almost achieve a miracle for her party: the Aargau center or CVP has not been represented in the small chamber for 28 years. Doris Leuthard, who later became a Federal Councillor, was also not elected to the Council of States in 1999.
Two supporting roles
Two outsiders play an extra role: Nancy Holten, independent, who has repeatedly attracted media attention with her fight for peace from cowbells and her application for naturalization, which was initially rejected by her Fricktal municipality.
She cannot have a say. This also applies to Pius Lischer, who has repeatedly stood as a candidate in elections. He repeatedly launches popular initiatives at cantonal and federal level without being able to collect the necessary signatures.
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