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In 2019, the SVP lost its champion. The canton of Lucerne had to give up a seat in the National Council to Vaud, and especially the cheerful Felix Müri (56), who organized all the cheerful events of the parliamentary group of the Federal House, from the birthday serenade to the faction outing to the Christmas dinner (where he played Sinterklaas, of course). His deselection was unexpected – and not only for Müri himself.
This year too, Lucerne will probably provide one or two surprises. The canton has nine seats in the National Council, three of which will become vacant: summertime abolitionist and soon-to-be pastor Yvette Estermann (56, SVP), security politician Ida Glanzmann (64, center) and consumer advocate Prisca Birrer-Heimo (64, SP) are no longer active.
The last remaining woman must be shaking
This threatens to drastically reduce the share of women in the Lucerne delegation: the only woman among those present is Priska Wismer-Felder (52, center). And she can’t be so sure she’ll be re-elected. If the trends of the cantonal elections in April (+3.4 percent) and the national election barometer (+2 percent) are confirmed, the SVP could win a seat on October 22 – at the expense of the center.
State councilor Leo Müller (65) is more firmly in the saddle than farmer Wismer-Felder. It recently made itself vulnerable because it wants to install three wind turbines of 120 meters high on its site in Stierenberg. In addition, Pius Kaufmann (52) is an intermediary who could pose a threat to Wismer-Felder: Kaufmann is a canton councilor, municipal mayor of Escholzmatt-Marbach, an experienced official at the Lucerne Wrestling Association, panaschier king – and he comes from Entlebuch, which has been there for eight years, has not sent anyone to Bern for years.
An SVP woman has good chances
Wismer-Felder must hope that the previous bonus plays a role. If the hope is not fulfilled, the Lucerne Center will send only men to the National Council. The outgoing SP woman Priska Birrer-Heimo will also most likely be replaced by a man: canton president David Roth (38) is considered as good as elected. Another ex-Juso boss would enter the national parliament with him.
The hope of the women of Lucerne must therefore rest on the SVP. The Entlebuch farmer Vroni Thalmann (54) will probably inherit the seat of the retiring Estermann. If the SVP wins the third seat, she and the previous Franz Grüter (60) will probably be joined by another man: pediatrician Bernhard Steiner (55).
50:50 in the Council of States
And the women still have hope: the SP may be able to win a second seat. At least for a woman there are opportunities; there are five women on the SP main list. This scenario would mean bad luck for GLP man Roland Fischer (58). He was already voted out once in 2015 and is now being threatened with this again.
After all, Lucerne will probably be evenly represented in the Council of States. Both Damian Müller (38, FDP) and Andrea Gmür Schönenberger (59, center) will most likely be confirmed in office.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
