Second rounds of voting are needed in ten cantons: Center is slightly ahead of Freisinn in the Council of States

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For de Stöckli it was perhaps the biggest surprise of the race. Petra Gössi (47) wrote history on Sunday. The FDP politician for the canton of Schwyz is the first woman ever to become a member of the Council of States. Remarkable. Until now, the electorate in the conservative Central Swiss canton has always been very cautious about women’s candidacies.

Still disappointment on the face of Othmar Reichmuth (59). The incumbent centrist Council of States fails to be re-elected. He finishes in third place. Behind Gössi, behind the SVP candidate Pirmin Schwander (61).

He was able to defend the seat of his resigned party colleague Alex Kuprecht (65). This means that the two seats of the Schwyz Council of States will be completely replaced.

There are still 15 seats to be filled

On Sunday, 31 of the 46 mandates in the Council of States, the small parliamentary chamber, were awarded. With ten mandates, the center is slightly ahead of the FDP, which has nine.

In the second voting round, 15 seats still have to be distributed. Two members of the Council of States have already been pre-elected, the two centrist politicians Daniel Fässler (63, AR) and Erich Ettlin (61, OW).

The battle for the Stöckli had even more surprises in store. For example in the canton of Neuchâtel. There, SP State Councilor Baptiste Hurni (37) managed to take the seat from the incumbent FDP State Councilor Philippe Bauer (61). This is also because the election of the Council of States in Neuchâtel is a proportional election. The parties’ vote share was therefore crucial. The SP received 23.4 percent of the votes, the Greens 22.7 percent. This means that the FDP’s 21.4 percent was not enough to retain Bauer’s seat in the Council of States.

Bauer has been a member of the state council since 2019 and heads the task force investigating the corona leaks. Céline Vara (39) of the Greens, also newly elected in 2019, was re-elected.

Romantic surprise bag

In any case, French-speaking Switzerland turned out to be a surprise bag on Sunday. Also in Geneva. There, former state councilor of the canton of Geneva, Mauro Poggia (64) of the Mouvement Citoyens Genevois (MCG), achieved the best result.

This put him even ahead of the previous two, Lisa Mazzone (35, Greens) of the Greens and Carlo Sommaruga (64, SP). All the more surprising: the two seats of the Council of States in the canton of Geneva have been in left-green hands for sixteen years.

Pierre-Yves Maillard (55, SP) was also happy. Voters in Vaud appointed the current national councilor and chairman of the Swiss Trade Union Confederation as the new Council of States in the first round of voting. Pascal Broulis (58, FDP) finished in second place. He has to go to the second ballot.

Second vote in November

Meanwhile, Thomas Minder (62, SH) has to worry about re-election. The entrepreneur, who became known as the ‘father of the rip-off initiative’, ended up behind the SP candidate and will have to go into a second round. Hannes Germann (67, SVP), on the other hand, immediately managed to get re-elected.

The race will ultimately be decided in November – in the second round of voting. The center party has three previous candidates in the race, including heavyweights Beat Rieder (60, US) and Isabelle Chassot (58, FR). Johanna Gapany (35, FR) of the FDP must run again.

Source:Blick