Open starting position in the election of Berset’s successor
Published: Wednesday, Dec 13th 2023, 04:50
Updated At: Wednesday, Dec 13th 2023, 04:50
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Who will succeed Alain Berset? And will the Greens' attack on an FDP seat have no chance? These questions will be answered this morning.
The general election of the Federal Council is coming up. Apart from Berset, all members of the government are standing for re-election. The second SP seat in the seven-member government is not mathematically contested. The Social Democrats are putting forward two candidates in the form of Graubünden National Councillor Jon Pult and Basel Government President Beat Jans.
If there are no party political games, one of the two will succeed Berset. After the last hearing of the two official SP candidates on Tuesday evening, it remained unclear which of the two has the better cards. No parliamentary group has yet made an election recommendation for just one of the two candidates.
Secret ballot
According to media reports, Jans was able to score slightly more points at the conference of farmers' parliamentarians. This could be decisive: Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (SP) reportedly won many votes last year, especially from members of the Council with close ties to farmers - and thus pulled off the surprise against Eva Herzog.
Things could only get exciting today if an uncontrollable dynamic were to develop before the election to replace Berset - which will take place at the end of the overall renewal. This could be the case, for example, if the Greens' attack on an FDP seat were supported by many. Or if an unofficial centrist candidate suddenly contested the seat of FDP Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.
The SVP, FDP and centrists have recently ruled out such "games". How the SP will behave will not be known until Wednesday at the earliest, shortly before the start of the election. The GLP parliamentary group announced on Tuesday that some of its members would probably support Gerhard Andrey, the Green Party's candidate for the election.
Votes for "wild candidates" possible
Because the elections are secret, it is not clear who is receiving votes from whom. This makes election day unpredictable at times. Even though most political groups announce their preferences publicly before the elections, nobody has to stick to them.
A year ago, Herzog and Baume-Schneider were the official candidates to succeed SP Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga. Councillor of States Daniel Jositsch nevertheless received 58 votes. This time too, there is speculation that some members of the middle classes will express their dissatisfaction with the official SP ticket and put Jositsch on the slate.
There was speculation in the media about other "secret plans" - for example, that Centre Party President Gerhard Pfister could succeed the much-criticized FDP Federal Councillor Cassis. Martin Candinas, a centrist national councillor from Graubünden, has also been mentioned as a possible successor to Cassis. However, these scenarios are very unlikely.
Open race to succeed Thurnherr
In addition to the seven-member government body, the "eighth Federal Councillor" will also be elected on Wednesday. At stake is the successor to Walter Thurnherr, the Federal Chancellor. The race is wide open.
Three of the four Federal Council parties refrained from running in advance for tactical reasons, according to media reports. The Center Party, which has held the office of Federal Chancellor since 2008 with Thurnherr and previously Corina Casanova, is also no longer laying claim to it. In the medium term, the Center Party is aiming for a second seat in the Federal Council.
Gabriel Lüchinger and Nathalie Goumaz - both from the SVP - as well as the GLP candidate and current Vice-Chancellor Viktor Rossi are in the running for the office of Federal Chancellor. Lukas Gresch-Brunner (non-party), currently Secretary General of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA), also wants to succeed Thurnherr.
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