Fribourg Councillors of States Chassot and Gapany re-elected
Published: Sunday, Nov 12th 2023, 16:20
Updated At: Sunday, Nov 12th 2023, 16:24
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Isabelle Chassot (center) and Johanna Gapany (FDP) were re-elected in the second round of the Council of States elections in the canton of Fribourg on Sunday. The SP candidate Alizée Rey narrowly missed out on election.
The 58-year-old Chassot, who was considered the big favorite, received 38,161 votes. The former State Councillor and former Director of the Federal Office of Culture was the undisputed leader from the outset. It was a nail-biter for the former FDP member of the Council of States Gapany.
The 36-year-old SP candidate Rey was hot on the heels of the Liberal Democrat. In the end, Gapany was narrowly re-elected with 30,538 votes; her lead over Rey (29,624) was only 914 votes.
SP and Greens join forces
After the first round of voting, SVP National Councillor Piere-André Page and National Councillor and Federal Council candidate Gerhard Andrey (Greens) withdrew from the race. The Greens supported the SP candidate in the second ballot.
Rey was very pleased with her result: "I achieved a better result than expected, with 7,000 more votes than in the first round," she told the Keystone-SDA news agency. For a moment, she believed that it was possible to catch up.
The fact that it was close for Gapany could be partly due to the fact that the left was able to mobilize better. In addition, some of her positions may have deterred centrist voters from voting for the Liberal Democrat.
The 35-year-old Gapany from Bulle caused a sensation four years ago when she snatched the seat in the Council of States from the established centrist Beat Vonlanthen.
Chassot is likely to have won votes beyond the conservative camp. She has been a member of the small chamber for two years. Back then, she won the election to replace the retiring Christian Levrat (SP) against the Social Democrat Carl-Alex Ridoré.
Voter turnout on Sunday was 34.3 percent, compared to 45.4 percent in the first round of voting three weeks ago.
©Keystone/SDA
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