Bern mayor and red-green camp under pressure in elections
Published: Sunday, Oct 27th 2024, 10:40
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The elections in the city of Bern on November 24 promise to be very exciting, although the red-green majority is not in danger. On the one hand, Mayor Alec von Graffenried must fear for his job. On the other hand, the left-wing camp is threatened with a loss of seats in the city government.
Von Graffenried from the small, moderate Green Party GFL is seeking a third term in office. However, the SP wants to regain the city presidency, which it held until the end of 2016. Its hopes are pinned on Marieke Kruit, who has been a member of the city government for four years. She is now set to become Bern's first female mayor.
Kruit is considered to have a good chance because she has hardly made any negative headlines as Director of Construction and Transport and has the strongest party behind her in the SP. The race will probably only be decided in a run-off election, as there are other candidates and the threshold for an absolute majority is correspondingly high.
The elections to the five-member city government are turning into an armchair dance. The Red-Green Alliance has always contested the proportional elections with a joint list since 1992 and has done well with this. Since 2017, the alliance has even held four of the five municipal council seats and is therefore overrepresented in terms of voter shares.
Closing ranks with the center-right
The parties of the center-right camp have so far run separately or relied on smaller alliances. Now the GLP, Center, FDP, SVP and EVP have come together for the first time to form a joint list and therefore have a good chance of winning two seats. It remains to be seen who will win them. Councillor Reto Nause (center) is no longer running.
GLP National Councillor Melanie Mettler is likely to have the best chances. A possible second seat could go to Florence Pärli (FDP) or Béatrice Wertli (center). Both sit in the city parliament. The SVP and EPP candidates are in the outsider role.
Green against green
In the left-wing camp, Marieke Kruit (SP) and National Councillor Matthias Aebischer (SP) are considered the frontrunners. If the Red-Green Alliance is able to slightly increase its share of the electorate once again, Alec von Graffenried (GFL) and city parliamentarian Ursina Anderegg from the more left-wing Green Alliance would also be elected to the city government.
If the red-green party loses a seat, one of the two green candidates is likely to lose out. For von Graffenried, not being re-elected would be a double defeat, as he would automatically be out of the running as mayor.
The only thing that is certain about the municipal elections is that the city government will be completely overhauled: With Kruit and von Graffenried, only two incumbents will be standing. In addition, women will in all likelihood be in the majority, which would not be a novelty in Bern.
Coveted parliamentary seats
534 women and men from Bern are competing for a seat in the 80-member city parliament. Four years ago, the people elected the most left-wing and, with 70 percent women, also the most female parliament in Switzerland. Over the course of the legislature, however, the proportion of women has fallen to around 58% due to resignations.
©Keystone/SDA
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