MCG politician Mauro Poggia wins seat for the Greens
Published: Sunday, Nov 12th 2023, 16:30
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The canton of Geneva has elected an MCG politician and a Social Democrat to the Council of States. Mauro Poggia once again came out on top in the second round of voting on Sunday, enabling the conservatives to win back the seat they lost in 2007. The SP's Carlo Sommaruga defended his seat at the expense of the Greens' Lisa Mazzone.
The former state councillor Poggia from the right-wing Mouvement citoyens genevois (MCG), who is very popular in Geneva, received 55,317 votes. In second place, the former Social Democrat member of the Council of States Sommaruga was re-elected with 46,423 votes.
The third-placed incumbent Mazzone received 45,300 votes. The Geneva Greens have thus lost their seat in the Council of States, having already lost a seat in the National Council on October 22.
Withdrawal after defeat
The 35-year-old Mazzone suffered her first political defeat after eight years in Bern. She announced her retirement from politics. "I will continue to live my convictions elsewhere, in a different way," she explained, regretting that the canton "is represented by two 64-year-old men".
She also reminded the audience that she would have presided over the Council of States if she had been re-elected: "This is a missed opportunity for Geneva."
"The alliance worked"
Poggia's rival, 44-year-old SVP National Councillor Céline Amaudruz, came fourth with 40,371 votes. These results, which are similar to those of the first round of voting, show that the new MCG-SVP ticket did not convince all middle-class voters. In order to overturn the red-green majority in the Council of States, the FDP, Center Party, SVP and MCG had renewed their alliance from the cantonal elections in the spring.
"It has to be acknowledged that the right-wing alliance sealed for this election worked well," said Poggia. As his party has no national base, the MCG politician has to join an existing parliamentary group, just like his party colleagues in the National Council.
Outsiders without a chance
The two candidates on the Liberté - Le Peuple d'abord (Liberty - The People First) list finished far behind in last place. Chloé Frammery, a corona skeptic, received 4225 votes, while Anastasia-Natalia Ventouri received 3275 votes.
At 37.06 percent, voter turnout was lower than in the first round with 40.82 percent.
©Keystone/SDA
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