She loves the queen, cigars and whiskey

Your role models are SVP Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer (71) and the Queen (†96). Although Michèle Blöchliger (55), despite an English mother, has no family ties with the British crown, she could well become the successor of her party colleague Maurer. In any case, the lawyer is applying for this, she announced on Monday afternoon: “I am ready to run for federal councilor,” she told the media.

Nidwalden’s finance director justified her candidacy by saying that Switzerland is a beautiful country with a unique democracy that must be preserved. That’s what she wants to do. And her three children are said to have motivated her to run and run.

Founder SVP Nidwalden

So far, Blöchliger is unlikely to be known to anyone outside of Nidwalden and the SVP. However, in the central Swiss canton, it is already considered a veteran. She co-founded the SVP Nidwalden in 1999 and was cantonal chairman of the party until 2005. From 2002 to 2018 she was a member of the cantonal parliament before being elected to the governing council.

In her first term in office, the resident of Hergiswil took over the management of the health and social department. In the past two years, this has been severely tested by the corona pandemic. As health director, Blöchliger consistently maintained protective measures until she disagreed with Health Minister Alain Berset (50) over the “terrace dispute”. Blöchliger left the terraces in the ski areas open, but in the end had to give in because Berset had mastered the pandemic. After the last elections, the SVPer took over financial management.

So far, Blöchliger is the only woman in the SVP who has expressed an interest in succeeding the outgoing Ueli Maurer in the state government. However, their chances of being elected by the Federal Assembly are slim. Because she has never sat in the federal parliament, she is hardly known outside the SVP faction. That’s what party colleagues say about her.

In the past, government councilors have always had a hard time being elected to the Federal Council by the national and state councils. Members of a cantonal government came to the state government only in exceptional circumstances. And even Karin Keller-Sutter (58) didn’t make the jump straight from St. Gallen to the state government. She had to become a member of the Council of States first, but easily rose to a member of the Bundesrat on the second attempt.

«Bring a lot of preconditions with you»

But that doesn’t deter Blöchliger. “In all humility I can say that through my private, professional and political career I have many qualifications for this demanding position,” says the applicant. In addition to her political career, she is a lawyer by profession, she has gained managerial experience at a large bank and was director of an SME company. Her hobbies are “wine & cheese, whiskey & cigars” on her website.

Blöchliger knows exactly what you need to fill a top position at the SVP. If the SVP had a top position to fulfill in recent years, she was often on the selection committee. Together with the then party leader of the SVP, Adrian Amstutz (68), they tested candidates for the seat of the Federal Council in 2015. Guy Parmelin (62) was “considered suitable” by her at the time.

Resigned from the search committee

Two years ago, she was a member of the committee examining the candidates for the presidency of SVP Switzerland. And now it was again intended to highlight the possible successors of Ueli Maurer. With the interest in the agency that has now been announced, she is of course no longer on the current selection committee, says Kaspar Baader (69), who leads the group.

Even though Blöchliger barely makes it to the Bundesrat. But she should get her party ticket: The call for an SVP candidate on a two- or three-way ticket is getting louder.

Your gender does not play a role in your application, but Blöchliger himself says: “The fact that I am a woman is a quality that you just get.” More important to her is the representation of the Central Switzerland region in the state government.