Council of States elections a corrective to the right-wing slide for political scientists
Published: Sunday, Nov 19th 2023, 19:50
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The SVP's lack of success in the second round of voting for the Council of States, except in Ticino, is due to the majority vote. A majority election benefits the other parties, explained political scientist Lukas Golder from the gfs.bern research institute on Swiss television SRF on Sunday evening.
The conservative trend in the National Council elections did not continue in the Council of States elections. The electorate had countered this trend, partly due to mobilization in the cities. According to Golder, it became apparent that the SVP candidates had hardly any appeal beyond their own party.
The SVP has a difficult time standing against more moderate candidates in personality elections. This was already evident before Gregor Rutz's defeat on Sunday in previous elections to the Council of States, when party doyen Christoph Blocher, Ueli Maurer and Roger Köppel failed.
The women's issue also played a role, as Golder went on to explain. The fact that Tiana Angelina Moser (GLP/ZH), Marianne Binder-Keller (Mitte/AG) and Franziska Roth (SP/SO) prevailed shows that women can also win a majority election.
The Council of States is also increasingly forging social-liberal coalitions, Golder continued. This means it can often assert itself against the right and against the National Council at agreement conferences.
Council of States sets the pace
According to Bernese political scientist Adrian Vatter, there was an unusually high number of 30 conciliation conferences in the last legislature. According to him, the fact that the Council of States won more often is due to the fact that it is smaller and more homogeneous and sets the pace more often than the first chamber.
Meanwhile, political scientist Golder does not see any major changes in the short term for future parliamentary work. The right-wing camp has lost some ground in the Council of States. In the longer term, however, the newly elected members are likely to make themselves more noticeable in the small chamber.
Solutions could emerge, for example in the healthcare sector. The center-left camp could continue to be blocked. However, opportunities could arise where the SVP stands alone, says Golder.
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