Mairy elected as Kurth’s successor in the Neuchâtel government
Published: Sunday, Nov 26th 2023, 14:00
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Frédéric Mairy (SP) was elected to the Neuchâtel government on Sunday to replace Laurent Kurth. He was easily elected in the first round of voting.
Mairy was the favorite going into the race. He received 24,750 votes, according to the Neuchâtel State Chancellery. He thus left former SVP councillor Jean-Luc Pieren (2083 votes) and independent Thomas Wroblevski (3258 votes) far behind. The absolute majority was 15,046 votes. The voter turnout was 22.7 percent.
Kurth, 56, announced his resignation at the end of August with effect from the end of February 2024. His successor Mairy is 50 years old, a municipal councillor in Val-de-Travers and has worked professionally as a journalist and in the cultural sector. The Neuchâtel SP unanimously nominated him at the party congress on September 9.
Initially, it appeared that the election would be a quiet one. Apart from the SP, no established parties laid claim to the seat. The next general elections will take place in spring 2025. The FDP is represented in the five-member government with three seats, the SP with two.
Fight for empty votes
The candidacies of the two outsiders Pieren and Wroblevski were not well received in the canton. Wroblevski would not have accepted the election anyway. His only concern was that blank ballot papers are counted in elections and votes.
A corresponding reform of the cantonal law on political rights would give citizens the power to declare an election invalid if blank ballots are in the majority.
Former SVP councillor Pieren once left the party in a dispute. The 60-year-old makes repeated attempts to be elected to office. For the federal elections on October 22, he ran unsuccessfully for the Council of States under the banner of the European Federalist Party.
Pieren has also repeatedly caused a stir with judicial affairs. Most recently, he was sentenced by the cantonal court in April for contingent intent in a money laundering case. The politician lodged an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.
©Keystone/SDA
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