TREND: SP candidate Atici leads in government replacement election in Basel
Published: Sunday, Apr 7th 2024, 12:21
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In the battle for the vacant seat in the Basel government, Mustafa Atici (SP) is still ahead of his conservative challenger Luca Urgese (FDP) in the second round of voting, according to interim results. Following the election of Beat Jans to the Federal Council, the incumbent Director of Education Conradin Cramer (LDP) will most likely become President of the Government.
Former SP National Councillor and Kurdish-born catering entrepreneur Atici received 24,683 votes from postal voters in the second round of voting, according to interim results released by the State Chancellery on Sunday. Urgese, the opposing candidate put forward jointly by the conservative parties and the SVP, received 21,939 votes. The 37-year-old member of the Grand Council and association official is therefore 2744 votes behind Atici. Eric Weber, a member of the Grand Council from the far right, received 1719 votes.
In the election to the presidency, Cramer leads with 36,847 votes, followed by Weber with 1,483 votes. The election of the Director of Education, who has been in office since 2017, to the presidency was only a formality. Atici, who also ran for the presidency in the first round of voting and was just under 8,000 votes behind Cramer, now only wants the government seat, leaving the field open for the LDP politician.
Winner expected to take over the Department of Education
With the election of Beat Jans (SP) to the Federal Council in December 2023, a seat has become vacant in Basel's cantonal government and at the same time the presidency. No one achieved an absolute majority in the first round of voting on March 3.
If Atici wins, the SP would retain its three seats in the seven-member government council, and Atici would be the first member of the Basel government with a migration background.
If Urgese wins, the conservatives would once again have a majority in the executive for the first time since the general elections in 2000 and the FDP would be represented in the Basel executive again following the dismissal of Security Director Baschi Dürr in November 2020. The winner of the duel between the SP and FDP is expected to take over the Department of Education from Cramer.
The final results are expected to be announced from 18:00.
©Keystone/SDA
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