Here’s what you need to know: Here’s what you need to know about the Federal Council elections

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Things get serious on Wednesday. Then the renewal elections of the Federal Council will take place. How does that work? Blick explains the election process and which of the previous federal council members should start the day and the elections in a more relaxed manner.

The seats are eligible based on seniority. The seat of Guy Parmelin (64) will therefore be awarded first on December 13. In this order follow the seats of Ignazio Cassis (62), Viola Amherd (61), Karin Keller-Sutter (59), Albert Rösti (56), Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (59) and finally the successor of Alain Berset. (51) determined. Voting starts at 8am.

The parliamentarians like to assure themselves across party lines that they do not want to vote out the other federal councilor. However, once the re-election of one’s own Federal Council is assured, the covert tactics can begin – because there is no longer any reason to fear retaliation. Parmelin can sleep most peacefully because he is the first to be re-elected and does not actually have to worry about games being played for his seat.

A person is elected if his or her name appears on more than half of the valid ballot papers (absolute majority). Blank and invalid ballots will not be counted. If this does not happen in the first voting round, the same number of voting rounds will take place until one person has obtained an absolute majority.

Anyone who has received fewer than ten votes after two rounds of voting will be eliminated as a candidate. From the third voting round onwards, no new people can be elected, i.e. only those who have already received votes in the first two voting rounds.

From the third voting round onwards, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. This applies to all further votes. This may take some time: Joseph Deiss (CVP, 77) was only selected in the sixth round in 1999 and Samuel Schmid (76, then SVP, now in the middle) in 2000.

We keep hearing about secret plans in the Federal Palace for possible deselections. But these are very rare. Since 1848, only four members of the Federal Council have not been re-elected: Ulrich Ochsenbein in 1854, Jean-Jacques Challet Venel in 1872, Ruth Metzler in 2003 and Christoph Blocher in 2007.

Nevertheless, the FDP fears a secret plan against Cassis. But the center party has always ensured that no sitting Federal Councilor will be voted out of office. St. Gallen councilor Esther Friedli (46) also told the “Tagesanzeiger” that now was “no time for games”. Stability is needed in the government.

Theoretically, any Swiss citizen with the right to vote can be elected to the Federal Council. A prior candidacy or membership of parliament is not required.

But there is still a good chance that someone from the official SP ticket will be elected. The Social Democrats have put two men on it: Beat Jans (59) and Jon Pult (39). However, these are only recommendations. People not placed on the ticket can also be elected in the Berset replacement elections. The Zurich state councilor Daniel Jositsch (58), who is particularly popular on the right of his SP, and the long-standing former parliamentary group leader Roger Nordmann (50), as well as the Bernese government councilor Evi Allemann (45) have put themselves forward as candidates without success.

The SVP makes no secret of being anything but enthusiastic about the ticket. SVP national councilor Alfred Heer (62) brought another name into play: that of Basel’s state councilor Eva Herzog (61).

The United Federal Assembly, that is, all 246 members of the popularly elected States and National Council. Before the elections, they sit together in the National Council Chamber. The election is secret, so you don’t know afterwards who received votes from whom.

The night before the elections for the Federal Council is often called the night of the long knives. The myth goes that on this evening intrigues are woven, elections are orchestrated and secret candidates are put forward at the last minute. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that that evening mainly expensive drinks will be consumed at the bar of Hotel Bellevue Bern.

The Green Party candidate Andrey Gerhard (47) will try to win votes until the last moment. However, the success of his attack on the FDP headquarters is considered unlikely. Many eyes will certainly be on Jositsch tonight, who has long wanted a Federal Council office.

If a member of the Federal Council is newly elected, he or she must declare to the United Federal Assembly whether he or she accepts the election.

When a new person joins the Federal Council, it must be determined which department he will receive. The Federal Council as a whole decides which Federal Council will be the head of which department. The so-called seniority principle plays a role in the distribution: those who have been federal council members the longest are the first to express their wishes, the newcomers last.

Source:Blick