Tense election to fill the vacant seat in the Basel government
Published: Sunday, Feb 11th 2024, 09:40
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Following the election of Beat Jans to the Federal Council, elections will be held in the canton of Basel-Stadt on March 3 to fill the vacant seat on the cantonal council. The presidency of the cantonal government also needs to be filled. The initial situation is exciting.
The Basel SP is sending former National Councillor Mustafa Atici into the race. After four years in office in the Grand Chamber, the 54-year-old was voted out of office in the fall of 2023. This was due to the fact that Basel-Stadt now has one less seat in the National Council. If elected to the executive, the entrepreneur of Kurdish origin would be the first Basel councillor with a migration background.
The Greens nominated 41-year-old Jérôme Thiriet, member of the Grand Council and managing director of the Basel courier center. The Greens' decision to put forward their own candidate was met with criticism from their alliance partner, the SP, as well as a minority of their own party. The Greens have not been represented in the government since 2020.
The left-wing Basta party, which currently still forms a parliamentary group in the Grand Council together with the Greens, narrowly decided to recommend the SP's Atici. The best-known Basta representative, National Councillor Sibel Arslan, however, supports Thiriet.
Divided left, united bourgeoisie
The FDP also lost its seat on the cantonal government in 2020. Now 37-year-old member of the cantonal parliament Luca Urgese is standing for election. With the support of the LDP, Center Party and SVP, he wants to regain a conservative majority in the government after 20 years. In contrast to the red-green coalition, the conservative camp is united in these elections, as the conservatives are joining forces with the SVP for the first time since 2016.
The electorate also has to decide on a separate ballot paper who can take over the presidency of the government from Beat Jans. Atici and Thiriet are also running for this office. However, the condition for this is that they are elected to the government. Urgese, however, who works as Head of Finance and Taxation at the Basel Chamber of Commerce, is only running for the seat in the government.
Former member of the governing council also wants the presidency
Urgese is running the election campaign together with Conradin Cramer (LDP), who has been Director of Education since 2017 and would like to take over the presidency. If he is elected, this office would be in the hands of the conservatives for the first time.
The by-elections in the city canton promise to be exciting. Atici, Thiriet and Urgese are three candidates who are well known in the canton and can count on broad support. A second round of voting is therefore very likely. Depending on the number of votes, either Atici or Thiriet could then withdraw from the duel with the middle-class candidate Urgese.
©Keystone/SDA
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