Battle for Berset’s successor: SP examination committee admits all candidates

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After thorough investigation of the candidacies, the examination committee came to this conclusion, the party announced on Saturday. During the ‘intensive hearings’, political and personal capabilities were examined and the candidates were ‘addressed as a security check about any risks’.

Starting next Monday, Matthias Aebischer and Evi Allemann from Bern, Beat Jans from Basel, Daniel Jositsch from Zurich, Roger Nordmann from Vaud and Jon Pult from Graubünden will present themselves to party members and the population during four public hearings. These hearings will take place in Geneva, Biel, Olten and Schaffhausen.

In general, German-Swiss politicians can be expected to be in pole position thanks to the SP Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider from Western Switzerland. The Greens have decided not to attack a single SP seat, but an FDP seat.

French-speaking Swiss as favorite

Bernese government councilor Allemann is the only woman entering the race as a possible successor to Berset. Observers also give her little chance of entering state government on her second try.

Vaud National Councilor Roger Nordmann is considered a political heavyweight and is the only French-speaking Swiss in the race. His candidacy is not that of a Roman, but rather a cross-linguistic one and that of a Swiss, he says. A third French-speaking Swiss member of the state government is therefore entirely possible.

Graubünden national councilor Jon Pult, who describes himself as a trilingual native of Graubünden, is considered one of the SP’s greatest talents and a good orator. Pult has not yet held executive office.

Political observers see Beat Jans from Basel as one of the favorites for the government post. Since 2021, he has been district president and head of the presidential department of the canton of Basel-Stadt. From 2010 to 2020 he was a Member of the National Council. During his time as a federal parliamentarian, he was vice-president of the SP Switzerland for five years.

Bernese National Councilor Matthias Aebischer has been politicking in the National Council for almost twelve years. If Aebischer or Allemann are elected, the canton of Bern would be represented twice in the state government.

Daniel Jositsch, SP state councilor from Zurich, is running again for the position of the Federal Council. Last year, Jositsch did not get the official ticket of his group, because the focus at the time was on the candidacies of women to succeed Simonetta Sommaruga. Jositsch is considered a representative of the right wing of the SP. (SDA)

Source:Blick