Mon, Apr 15th 2024
St. Gallen’s government elections, SP retains its seats, defeating SVP’s bid for an increase despite high voter expectations.
In the second round of elections to the St. Gallen government, the SP fended off the SVP’s attack and defended its second seat.
This means that the previous composition remains unchanged. Bettina Surber (SP) and Christof Hartmann (SVP) have been newly elected.
As the party with the most voters, the St. Gallen SVP wanted to win two seats in the government for the first time in these renewal elections. The party failed to do so. The SP was able to defend its second seat.
Dana Zemp, the SVP’s second candidate, came away empty-handed. The former cantonal doctor had only joined the SVP shortly before the nomination. On Sunday, she only achieved third place with 41,127 votes.
Bettina Surber surprisingly took the top spot in this second ballot with 47,647 votes. She was able to build on numerous votes from the cantonal capital and the larger agglomerations.
Christof Hartmann was also elected with 45,117 votes. Hartmann said he was delighted to have been elected to the government and was ready for any department. The reasons why the SVP was unable to win a second seat would only be revealed by the analyses in the coming days. “One initial suspicion, however, is mobilisation,” said Hartmann. In his opinion, more mobilisation would probably have been possible in the rural municipalities.
Sarah Bösch, who has no party affiliation, influenced the election with her 24,009 votes. In the end, the SVP candidates in particular may have missed out on these votes. Alfred Tobler, who is also independent, received 9,136 votes.
Voter turnout was 30.5%.
Now that the two remaining seats have also been filled on Sunday, the current composition of the St. Gallen government will remain in place, with two members each from the FDP, the Center Party and the SP, as well as one representative from the SVP.
©Keystone/SDA
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