Basel-Stadt elects new government and parliament
Published: Sunday, Oct 20th 2024, 04:40
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In the canton of Basel-Stadt, the political cards along the left-right divide in government and parliament will be reshuffled this Sunday. While the seven incumbents are expected to be confirmed in the elections to the cantonal government, there could be a shift in the balance in the elections to the cantonal parliament.
Over the past four years, Basel-Stadt's political landscape has been characterized by stalemates between left-wing and green parties and the bourgeois forces. While the Left-Greens narrowly missed out on an absolute majority in the Grand Council four years ago, the 2020 elections marked the end of the 16-year red-green majority in the government with the entry of GLP representative Esther Keller.
All seven incumbents in the executive are standing for re-election. In addition to Keller, these are the longest-serving government representative Lukas Engelberger (center), Conradin Cramer and Stephanie Eymann (both LDP) as well as Tanja Soland, Kaspar Sutter and Mustafa Atici (all SP), who was only elected in April to replace Federal Councillor Beat Jans.
They are being challenged by two candidates each from the left-green and centre-right camps. The FDP has put forward Eva Biland, a doctor who is largely unknown at cantonal level. For the SVP, lawyer and Grand Councillor Stefan Suter is making a second attempt at the candidate carousel after 2020. On the left, members of the Grand Council Oliver Bolliger from the left-wing party Basta and the Green candidate Anina Ineichen will take votes away from each other. In addition, far-right councillor Eric Weber (People's Action) is running for the executive.
Weight shifts possible in parliament
The Greens - then still in an alliance with Basta - and the Green Liberals emerged from the 2020 elections to the Grand Council as the big winners with four seats each, while the SP, still the strongest force, and the SVP and FDP suffered seat losses.
The GLP should be able to continue to play its role as the tip of the scales in the coming legislative period. There are also no ground-breaking shifts on either side of the left-right divide.
However, this does not mean that there may well be certain shifts in weight. For example, the Greens must expect that, as at federal level and in other cantons, they will not be able to maintain their historic top result of 2020. On the other hand, the SVP can hope to regain at least some of its strength.
A total of 870 candidates on 16 lists want to enter the 100-member parliament. Among them, no fewer than 96 incumbents are running again.
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