Civic battle for Glarus government seat
Published: Sunday, Feb 11th 2024, 09:40
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On March 3, the voters of Glarus will elect a successor to Landammann Benjamin Mühlemann (FDP). A female cantonal councillor and two cantonal councillors from the Center Party, FDP and SVP are vying for the government office. All three chair or have chaired a committee in the cantonal parliament. It will be an exciting, albeit purely middle-class election.
Landammann Benjamin Mühlemann was elected to the Council of States on October 22, 2023. For this reason, he will step down as a member of the cantonal government at the Landsgemeinde 2024. This makes a replacement election to the government necessary.
The FDP is the only party to hold two seats in the five-member government and wants to keep them. Mühlemann's seat will be defended by district councillor Roger Schneider. The 55-year-old business IT specialist and consultant from Mollis was a member of the first executive of the new large municipality of Glarus from 2009. This makes him the only one of the three candidates to have executive experience.
Schneider is perceived as a dynamic type of manager. His handicap is his Zurich dialect. Although his parents were from Glarus, he grew up in the canton of Zurich and only moved to Glarus in 2007. He himself emphasizes that he is a Glarner.
Top SVP man wants to join the government
The SVP is also putting forward a strong candidate in the form of its first Vice President Thomas Tschudi. The 45-year-old business economist from Näfels is expected to win a second government seat for the People's Party.
Tschudi, who effectively acts as party president, only recently raised his profile in the Glarus region. In the national elections in October, the SVP under his leadership was the only party to contest both chambers and won the only seat in the Glarus National Council.
It remains to be seen whether his image as a sometimes "rowdy" SVP opposition politician will help him in the election. After all, Tschudi is clearly backed by the party with the most voters in terms of seats in the district council and is seen as its typical representative.
Not too well-known hard-working creator
Although Vice-President of the District Council, the only female candidate, centrist Daniela Bösch-Widmer, is not as well-known as the two candidates. The 46-year-old primary school teacher and remedial teacher is regarded as a hard-working but quiet achiever. Of the three opponents, she has been a member of the cantonal parliament the longest.
Bösch-Widmer is also expected to win a second seat in government for her party. If elected, she would be the second woman in government alongside Marianne Lienhard (SVP). However, she cannot count on a women's bonus in Glarus, as the national elections have shown. Despite two strong female candidates, the electorate sent three men to the federal parliament.
However, as a moderate conservative candidate, Bösch-Widmer could win votes from the red-green party. The SP, the only governing party not represented in the election campaign, decided not to make an election recommendation. However, the party declared that the right-wing candidates in particular were not electable for the Social Democrats.
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