Because of the arms dispute: SVP must cover election posters

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It is an election campaign in the canton of St. Gallen. The canton council will be reappointed on March 3. The first posters have been up two months before the vote. But that’s exactly what’s causing a stir now — and at least some of it is creating extra work for the SVP.

The problem: The St. Gallen coat of arms can be seen on SVP election posters in the Wil constituency, as Blick reported. However, its use is exclusively reserved for the canton. If the canton’s coat of arms is used in its original form on an election poster, this is not permitted. The SVP section even threatened to have to replace all the posters involved. A huge effort.

A “joke” for the SVP president

It doesn’t quite get that far. Nevertheless, the party must take action. After a reprimand from the canton, the SVP section must now cover all affected posters. Bruno Dudli (51), chairman of the SVP Wil constituency, speaks the “St. Galler Tagblatt” joked: “We designed our posters exactly the same way during the last two general elections.” There was no response then.

The legal background: The canton logo may certainly be used, but only if it has a different border, for example a flag or a rectangular border. But on the posters in question it was depicted as a weapon. This is prohibited by federal law.

Canton had already pointed this out before the last election

On Wednesday, the canton sent the party secretariats an information letter about the use of the St. Gallen coat of arms, which Blick received. A similar letter was sent before the last election in February 2020. It refers to the federal law, according to which the Swiss coat of arms and the coats of arms of the cantons and municipalities in the form of a coat of arms may only be used by the community to which they belong.

Despite all the anger, the district party assures Wiler that it will of course adhere to the legal requirements. “We will stick the coats of arms,” says Dudli. This would probably require spending about R1,000 in material costs. When it comes to poster campaigns for election campaigns, the candidates would do the work themselves.

If the requirements are implemented within a period of, for example, ten days, the SVP should not suffer any consequences. In such cases, the canton will refrain from taking further steps, such as filing a lawsuit. (dba)

Source:Blick