National Council does not want any restrictions on list combinations
Published: Monday, Apr 15th 2024, 18:30
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The National Council does not want any restrictions on list combinations in the election of the National Council. With a casting vote by Council President Eric Nussbaumer (SP/BL), it rejected a motion by Leo Müller (center/LU) on Monday by 94 votes to 93 and with one abstention.
Müller's motion wanted to clear up the flood of lists that Switzerland experienced in the fall 2023 elections. Müller did not want to prohibit list combinations, but wanted to stipulate that a maximum of five lists could be combined. However, the National Council's no vote means it is now off the table.
Voters lacked an overview last fall, Müller said about the motion. He had learned this from feedback. Müller did not want to change the voting system itself.
In the cantons with proportional representation, over 600 National Council election lists were submitted in the fall of 2023. Over 5900 people ran on these lists, as Federal Chancellor Viktor Rossi explained in the Council. The Federal Council rejected the motion, citing deliberations on the topic in the relevant Council committees.
The Council of States is currently considering restrictions on list combinations. It recently sent two motions along similar lines by Thierry Burkart (FDP/AG) to the relevant committee for preliminary examination.
One of Burkart's motions calls for non-party list combinations to be prohibited or made unnecessary by adjusting the allocation procedure for seats in the National Council. The second calls for restrictions on sub-lists. Burkart envisages a limit of three linked lists per party and canton.
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