Irène Kälin also renounces her candidacy for the presidency of the Greens
Published: Wednesday, Jan 24th 2024, 14:10
Updated At: Wednesday, Jan 24th 2024, 14:10
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Lisa Mazzone from Geneva remains the only candidate for the presidency of the Green Party for the time being. National Councillors Irène Kälin and Sibel Arslan have also withdrawn from the original group of favorites.
If no suitable candidates had expressed an interest by the end of the application period, she would have had another look at herself, said National Councillor Irène Kälin (AG) on Wednesday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. "But now we have a suitable candidate. I am very optimistic that Lisa Mazzone is ideally suited to lead us into the future," continued the former President of the National Council.
Geneva National Councillor Nicolas Walder also declared on Wednesday that he would not stand as a candidate. With Mazzone's candidacy, the two goals of representing progressive Green politics and the French-speaking part of Switzerland have been fully achieved.
National Councillor Sibel Arslan (BS) previously told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper on Tuesday that she would not be standing for the presidency. When asked by the news agency Keystone-SDA, Greens General Secretary Rahel Estermann said that it was not yet possible to say anything about further candidates.
Mazzone the only candidate so far
Mazzone, a former member of the Council of States in Geneva, is therefore still the only candidate for the presidency of the Swiss Green Party. Mazzone announced her candidacy in an interview with the Tamedia newspapers published on Tuesday evening. According to Mazzone, a co-presidency is out of the question for her due to the dominance of German-speaking Switzerland in the other party presidencies.
Several other politicians had already withdrawn from the race to succeed the retiring Zurich National Councillor Balthasar Glättli before Mazzone's candidacy: Among them were parliamentary group leader Aline Trede, Ticino National Councillor Greta Gysin, Fribourg National Councillor Gerhard Andrey and Glarus Councillor of States Mathias Zopfi.
Following Mazzone's announcement, Zurich National Councillor Marionna Schlatter told the Keystone-SDA news agency that she would not be standing as Glättli's successor. Instead, she is running for Vice President.
The application period for Glättli's successor runs until February 4. The delegates will elect the new President at their meeting on April 6.
©Keystone/SDA
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