Left-wing parties lose general elections in Schwyz
Published: Sunday, Mar 3rd 2024, 18:50
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The voters of Schwyz have confirmed the purely bourgeois government and strengthened the right-wing camp in the cantonal parliament. The loser was the SP.
The SP had wanted to use the general elections to regain the government seat it lost twelve years ago. However, its candidate had no chance against the seven conservative government councillors who were all standing for re-election. The government council therefore continues to include three representatives from the SVP and two each from the FDP and CVP.
The seven elected candidates were only 2000 votes apart. They easily achieved the absolute majority of 21,047 votes.
Damian Meier (FDP) achieved the best result with 38,103 votes, ahead of André Rüegsegger (SVP) and the only woman in the government, the liberal Petra Steimen-Rickenbacher. They were followed by Herbert Huwiler (SVP), Sandro Patierno (Mitten), Michael Stähli (Mitte) and Xaver Schuler (SVP).
The elections were disappointing for the SP. Its candidate, Cantonal Council President Jonathan Prelicz, came last with 17,253 votes. The independent farmer Peter Abegg came in ahead of him with 17,880 votes.
No balanced government
SP President Karin Schwiter told the Keystone-SDA news agency that it would be difficult to run against seven incumbents. Prelicz had exhausted the voting potential of the SP and the Greens. Apparently, however, too few members of the middle classes are prepared to vote for a politically balanced government.
In contrast to the 2020 elections, the parties were no longer able to form joint lists. There was only one ballot paper on which voters had to mark the candidates they wanted. However, this did not help the SP. It is impossible to say whether this was due to the incumbent bonus, said Schwiter.
The SP is also the clearest loser in the cantonal council. It lost two seats and now has 15, while the Center Party (now 23 seats), FDP (19) and GLP (5) each lost one seat.
The big winner is thus the strongest force in the cantonal council, the SVP. It gained 5 seats and now holds 38 of the 100 seats.
©Keystone/SDA
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