Mo., Nov. 13th 2023
In the cantons of Geneva and Vaud, the Greens lost one seat each in the Council of States to the conservatives. In the canton of Fribourg, the SP’s attack on the incumbent female members of the Council of States from the Center Party and the FDP narrowly failed, and in Valais the Center Party once again defended its two seats.
In the canton of Geneva, the right-wing Mouvement citoyens genevois (MCG) has elected Mauro Poggia to the Council of States for the first time. The former Geneva State Councillor received 55,317 votes, clearly distancing himself from incumbent Carlo Sommaruga (SP), who received 46,423 votes.
She was followed by Lisa Mazzone of the Greens, who was not re-elected, by just 1323 votes. Nevertheless, she left Céline Amaudruz of the SVP just under 5000 votes behind. The seat in the National Council vacated by Poggia’s election to the Council of States went to MCG parliamentarian Daniel Sormanni.
The 35-year-old Mazzone wants to retire from politics after her defeat. “We are represented by two 64-year-old men. This is a decision by Geneva that I can only regret,” said Mazzone. She recalled that she would have presided over the Council of States if she had been re-elected: “This is a missed opportunity for Geneva.”
The second round of voting in the canton of Fribourg, where the SP candidate Alizée Rey attacked the two incumbents, Isabelle Chassot (center) and Johanna Gapany (FDP), caused a stir.
While the election of 58-year-old Chassot was a clear-cut affair, 35-year-old Gapany and 36-year-old Rey were separated by just over 900 votes in the end. Gapany, who four years ago surprisingly snatched the seat in the Council of States from the established centrist Beat Vonlanthen, thus remains a member of the Council of States.
Both the conservative camp and the unsuccessful challenger took note of the election result with satisfaction. Rey pointed out that she had gained 7,000 votes compared to the first round and had believed for a moment that she could catch up.
Pascal Broulis of the FDP, the former Vaudois finance director who was the favorite going into the second round of voting, was elected to the Council of States for the canton of Vaud. He clearly beat his challenger Raphaël Mahaim from the Greens.
Mahaim at least managed to make up for part of his handicap from the first round of voting: While he was 37,084 votes behind on October 22, he was only 14,410 behind on Sunday, but the Greens still lost a seat. However, he made it clear that his party would be back in four years’ time.
In the Council of States, Broulis will meet trade union president Pierre-Yves Maillard (SP), with whom he has already worked for years in the Vaud government. Maillard had already been elected to the Council of States in the first round on October 22. The FDP seat in the National Council vacated by Broulis’ election will be inherited by Daniel Ruch.
In Bern, the duo of Broulis-Maillard will succeed the Greens Adèle Thorens and the FDP politician Olivier Français, who have both retired from political life.
In the canton of Valais, the center or former CVP has defended its dominance in the Council of States, which has lasted since 1857. The incumbents Beat Rieder and Marianne Maret were clearly re-elected.
Rieder from the Upper Valais received 56,306 votes, while his party colleague from the Lower Valais, Maret, received 54,273 votes. FDP National Councillor Nantermod received 29,143 votes. He therefore fell well short of his goal of securing his party a historic first seat in the small chamber for the canton.
©Keystone/SDA
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