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The election campaign of FDP state councilor Andri Silberschmidt (29) started with a low blow. While he was politicking in the Federal Palace, thieves tampered with his e-bike. He had parked it in the Zurich HB bicycle station, secured with a thick chain – but it was of no use.
The blue FDP bicycle was unique. Four years ago, Silberschmidt cycled through the canton to win the hearts of voters. That worked: on the evening of October 20, 2019, he was confirmed as the youngest council member. “The bicycle was my faithful companion,” says Silberschmidt.
But the FDP high-flyer had to finally give up hope of going on tour with his wheel of fortune in the autumn of 2023 after his visit to the police station. It was decided that the surveillance camera images were too blurry.
Now Silberschmidt has undergone an upgrade. A tracking transmitter is hidden in the black frame of his new e-bike – and a multi-ton electric truck from his employer, the logistics company Planzer, serves as a campaign vehicle.
Truck without a driver’s license
The politician has had his truck driver’s license for a few months, but is not allowed to use it for commercial trips. He lets others drive his message (“Andri Silberschmidt lifered Politicali Lösige”) through the area – he uses public transport. When you ask him what his political solutions are, Silberschmidt switches to autopilot: “A reform of the health care system! Cheaper premiums! Strengthening entrepreneurship!”
Silberschmidt is not the only one who relies on wheels in the election campaign. The Obwalden Mitte Council of States Erich Ettlin (61), although already confirmed in office, tours the villages on a pink Vespa. This has nothing to do with the hype surrounding the “Barbie” of the same color. Ettlin bought his Piaggio in 1991, “when blow-dried haircuts and bright colors were in fashion.”
Bernese GLP state councilor Kathrin Bertschy (44) also chose pink. But her outdated ‘Göppel’, a Fiat 500, did not pass the test in time. Now she tours Bern’s playgrounds in a red mobility scooter, with ice in the boot and a bubble machine, to promote her family-friendly policies.
Kissing ball
The campaign vehicle of the Aargauer GLP councilor Beat Flach (58) needed a long run-up. He actually wanted to ‘pick’ around Lenzburg in a small electric car in 2019, but the pandemic and the war delayed the market introduction of the Microlino.
The “Knutschkugel”, designed in Switzerland and built in Italy, has now been in use for a few weeks. Flach calls the mint-colored mini car the same as its classic predecessor, the Isetta from the 1950s, because it allows him – out of necessity and luckily – to get very close to his wife.
You should not underestimate the Microlino, says Flach. He is frugal, efficient and embodies his motto: “Courage to find a solution”. Bold, green-liberal ideas are also needed more than ever in Bern, for example to promote the energy transition.
Everything rolls – but who invented it? Not the Swiss for once. Long before former German Vice Chancellor Guido Westerwelle (1961–2016) caused a sensation with his ‘Guidomobil’, presidential candidates in the US traveled to voters by train. The term ‘whistle-stop tour’ also dates from this time: every time a politician stopped to speak somewhere in the middle of nowhere, the station master’s shrill whistle sounded through the area and people knew: it was starting again.
Busy truant
This whistle tour was masterfully managed by outgoing SVP national councilor Roger Köppel (58), who visited all Zurich communities during the 2019 election campaign. After his election to the Grand Chamber, little of this hard work remained. In Federal Bern he was considered the king of absences.
Current FDP president Thierry Burkart (48) also caused a political flash in the pan four years ago. He went in a VW bus, built in 1974, to get votes for the Council of States. A hanged man, of course: Burkart is campaigning with an ‘old dirtbag’, his political opponents complained.
When photos of Balthasar Glättli (51) in an antique VW bus appeared this summer, the chairman of the Green Party felt compelled to explain on Twitter: “To everyone who asked me if I had bought a VW bus… No. I have never had a car.” The classic car was rented by the newspaper, which interviewed all party leaders in it.
Meanwhile, center candidate Michelle Renaud visits every ‘dog hole’ in her Renault (“I drive to the right of the centre”), and SVP member Martin Hübscher (54) does the same behind the wheel of a cheese mobile. Who will finish in this race will be announced in two weeks. Until then, “Nothing is impossible”.
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.
