Not the Greens’ first attack on a Federal Council seat
Published: Wednesday, Dec 13th 2023, 04:50
Updated At: Wednesday, Dec 13th 2023, 04:50
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Since 2000, the Greens have repeatedly tried to gain a seat in the state government, but always in vain. The FDP has not been the target of every attack, as was the case today, Wednesday. But that has often been the case.
In the fall, the Green parliamentary group nominated Fribourg National Councillor Gerhard Andrey to contest one of the two FDP seats in the Federal Council. In the eyes of the Greens, the magic formula - two seats each for the SVP, SP and FDP and one for the center - is no longer up to date and the FDP is overrepresented in the seven-member national government.
The Greens launched their first official candidacy for a seat on the Federal Council in 2000, when they were seeking to succeed SVP Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi.
The Lucerne National Councillor Cécile Bühlmann was defeated in the fourth round of voting by the Bernese Councillor of States Samuel Schmid, who was still a member of the SVP at the time. In 2007, Luc Recordon, a Green member of the Council of States from the canton of Vaud, ran against Christoph Blocher. When it became clear that Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf would win, Recordon withdrew from the race.
A year later, he stood again. This time it was to find a replacement for Samuel Schmid, who was stepping down. After the first round of voting, Recordon withdrew in favor of the Thurgau SVP National Councillor Hansjörg Walter. Ueli Maurer was elected.
In 2010, the Greens ran with Brigit Wyss from Solothurn - she was supposed to win the FDP seat of the retiring Hans-Rudolf Merz. Wyss only gained a few votes. The seat ultimately went to Johann Schneider-Ammann.
Finally, four years ago, the Greens nominated National Councillor Regula Rytz (BE) to win an FDP seat. Rytz won 82 votes against Ignazio Cassis, but Cassis was elected at the first attempt. When Karin Keller-Sutter was confirmed, 16 votes went to different people and 37 ballots were left blank. Rytz is not mentioned in the minutes of this election.
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