Tricky tightrope walking for Jositsch and the SP

It’s complicated. For example, the relationship status between SP councilor Daniel Jositsch (57) and his party can be summarized. Or rather, it just got a lot more complicated. The Zurich resident announced on Tuesday that he wanted to run for the Federal Council, although the SP leadership relies on a female-only ticket. A balancing act.

As Jositsch explained to the media, he hopes the faction of the House of Representatives will still open the ticket for a man – for him. And indeed, the Council of States Roberto Zanetti (67) suggests that the faction should rely on a three-way card with at least two women. “But that won’t work,” they wave away. The majority pushed for all-female candidates.

His chances have shrunk to a minimum

Only: if the SP does not leave Jositsch on the map, the Zurich resident threatens with a wild candidacy. “Egotrip”, “He completely overestimates himself” and “This shows that he would not be fit to become a federal councilor” are the most polite statements by politicians of different parties – to which no one wants to be named. In contrast to Juso president Nicola Siegrist (25). «Jositsch’s theater is distracting. Rather, let’s talk about the capable women who qualify,” he said on Twitter.

This shows that Jositsch’s chances of ever joining the Bundesrat have dwindled from good to minimal since Simonetta Sommaruga (62) announced his resignation. He lost a lot of goodwill. He doesn’t want to break with his party completely. And he went so far as to accommodate the SP that he would accept “the rules of the game” if men were tolerated on the ticket.

High-wire act without net

If Jositsch is not nominated by the group members in this case, then so be it. And he even assures: then he would not accept an election to the Federal Council. However, if the parliamentary faction does not clear the way for the Zurich resident and if the party leadership and the parliamentary faction remain steadfast, the conflict could escalate.

Jositsch went all out, he rehearsed the tightrope walk without a net. He seems to have missed one all along. After all, the Council of States rules out a change of parties. After all, he is still dependent on the SP. Jositsch was elected Council of States by the Zurich electorate, but it was only thanks to his party that he became a valid candidate.

And even if he were re-elected without a party behind him – which some consider him capable of: politicking without power in federal Bern is difficult.

Party leaders share the blame

The party and faction leadership helped provoke the difficult situation. The co-chairs Mattea Meyer (34) and Cédric Wermuth (36) and group leader Roger Nordmann (49) announced early on that there was a ticket only for women. If they had suggested an open ticket, a woman would still have been preferred over Jositsch.

To make matters worse, no SP candidate has climbed into the ring besides Jositsch. Now observers fear that the comrades do not have a woman on the run. But Blick is assured: “At least two capable women will run.” And one of these will be chosen.

Jositsch’s tightrope walk would then at most have no consequences. In the worst case, the “arrogant lawyer” will fall – another expression that the resident of Zurich gets. He may have missed a few things in Bern. Making enemies is not one of them.