Blick shows what happened behind the scenes: This is how the 70 Jositsch votes were created

At 10.55 am, FDP leader Thierry Burkart (48) sent a text message to his party colleagues. The SP distrusts the liberals because they do not adhere to the rules of the game, he warned, and once again explicitly called on his fellow members to confirm the previous federal council members and choose one of the two official SP candidates to succeed the retiring Alain Berset. (51) to choose – for example Jon Pult (39) or Beat Jans (59).

The presidential call came at a time when the FDP had already secured its two seats. Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter (59) won her election with 176 votes, while Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (62) also easily re-elected with 167 votes. The Ticino resident even received more votes than four years ago, when he only received 145 votes.

The Greens’ attack on the Cassis seat with challenger Gerhard Andrey (47) came to nothing. The Freiburg resident received only 59 votes – significantly less than Regula Rytz (61) with 82 votes four years ago.

SP hardly helped the Greens

This time there was no collective support from the SP for the Greens. Not only did the socialists consider the green attack hopeless, but the majority probably also voted for Cassis out of fear of party political games; the SP seats were last in line.

FDP leader Burkart was nevertheless satisfied. He told Blick that some comrades supported the attack on Cassis. “The SP apparently had to keep the Greens in line.” But in this case the damage is manageable. He made it clear: “There is no retaliation by the FDP. We stick to the ticket.”

70 votes for Jositsch

Yet not everyone saw it that way. The Zurich SP state councilor Daniel Jositsch (58), who did not make the official ticket, received 63 votes in the first voting round, significantly more than the official candidate Pult. In the second voting round there were 70. Quite a lot, since all groups had loudly announced in advance that they would not play games.

Of course, no one wanted to admit that they had written “wild” Jositsch on the ballot instead of Jans or Pult. Blick research shows that the Zurich resident could count on support from the SVP, FDP and Mitte.

About a third of each of the three factions probably voted for him. Although the share in the SVP will probably be even higher, many SVP members considered both Jans and Pult unelectable.

Support was probably slightly lower in the middle, because even farmers’ president Markus Ritter (56) supported Jans. Particularly in the Council of States, some centrists lobbied diligently for their council colleague from Zurich.

As Blick reported, Jositsch himself left no stone unturned and called on former SVP president Toni Brunner (49) to secure votes.

With the protest votes for Jositsch, citizens have expressed their dissatisfaction with the SP ticket. Apart from the dialect, according to the criticism from the right, there is hardly anything that distinguishes Jans and Pult. And some took the fact that at least part of the SP supported the green attack as justification for the swing to the left.

Jositsch remained seated again

The mini-attack did not come as a surprise to the SP. Some group members could only shake their heads at Jositsch’s response. When it came to the successor of Simonetta Sommaruga (63) last year, the Council of States did not take the stand to declare that he was not eligible. Which many resented him for.

And this time too he did it: nothing. Jositsch sat stoically. Which means he’s broken even more dishes between himself and the faction.

But eventually a festive mood chased away the anger. On the afternoon after the elections, the SP met for Christmas dinner at the Progr cultural center in Bern. To celebrate this day, the comrades fervently sang the Internationale, the struggle song of the labor movement. Also present: the newly elected federal councilor Beat Jans. Jositsch was missing.