Base agrees to SP ticket

Danny Smurf and Camilla Albor

Evi Allemann (44) drops out. Yesterday, the SP faction threw the Bernese government councilor out of the race to succeed Simonetta Sommaruga (62) in the Bundesrat. Eva Herzog (60) from Basel and Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (58) from Jura are now on the list of the Social Democrats – after a top-notch election thriller.

In the first two ballots, the three candidates received nearly equal votes; there was no clear favourite. Only the third round brought clarity: Herzog (24 votes) and Baume-Schneider (23) defeated Allemann (14).

With their decision for Herzog and Baume-Schneider, the parliamentarians are moving in line with their supporters. This is the conclusion of a representative survey of about 12,000 voters, which the Sotomo research institute has conducted in recent days at the request of SonntagsBlick. Of the respondents close to the SP, 59 percent voted to put Herzog on the card; 54 percent also wanted to see Baume-Schneider nominated. Allemann is clearly lagging behind. “Baume-Schneider is the SP candidate of the heart, Herzog that of the head,” says Sotomo director Michael Hermann (50) about the result. The investigation shows that the base and the parliamentary faction are close to each other on this point.

The survey also shows that Herzog is the favorite among the people and in all political camps. The pollsters asked, “Only Herzog and Baume-Schneider are up for election — who would you pick?” Herzog gets just over half of the vote, Baume-Schneider would get the support of a third of those polled.

No mother

As far as young mothers are concerned, the research by SonntagsBlick also shows that the SP parliamentary faction would hardly have ignored grassroots politics if they had put Evi Allemann – mother of two school-aged children – on the map. In the survey, 82 percent of SP sympathizers said a mother of school-age children in the Federal Council would not be a problem for them.

The party leadership had also made very positive statements to young mothers beforehand. Co-chair Cédric Wermuth (36) said that abroad “it goes without saying that women in office can remain mothers”. The president of the SP women, Tamara Funiciello (32), even said: “Young mothers are needed in the Bundesrat!” This is the only way forward with equality.

And even Pierre-Yves Maillard (54) threw himself into the breach for young mothers. “We have young women and I hope that they will stand for election and that we can also get this category of the population in the Federal Council,” the union leader announced in early November.

The relief at the top of the SP was correspondingly great when Evi Allemann, a young mother, threw her hat into the ring. With Flavia Wasserfallen (43) and Rebecca Ruiz (40), two mothers with school-aged children had already dropped out of the race.

But now none of the young mothers are left. Two candidates with adult children remain in the running. Is this result a defeat for the co-presidency around Wermuth and Mattea Meyer (35)? “The fact that Evi Allemann is the mother of two small children was certainly no reason that it was not enough for her,” SP vice-chairman Jon Pult (38) puts SonntagsBlick into perspective. But what made the difference then? “In an extremely tight race, it is probably a bit more difficult for candidates who are not members of the parliamentary group,” Pult said. It remains to be seen whether the SP leadership has strongly advocated for a young mother in the Bundesrat – and whether the parliamentary party has decided otherwise.

Baume-Schneider to the left?

What’s next? Favorite Herzog can count on broad support, not only among the population, but also in parliament. Baume-Schneider is considered too left-wing by many in the bourgeois camp – she also hails from Western Switzerland. Three Romands and one Tessin in the Bundesrat would be too much, according to the FDP leadership.

Also in the SVP, some are shaking their heads at the SP’s decision yesterday to send a German-Swiss and a Romande into the race. Group leader Thomas Aeschi (43) had already made it clear weeks ago that he believed that four Latins in the Federal Council would violate the requirement of appropriate representation of the language areas.

The path for Baume-Schneider is likely to be full of obstacles. However, the race is not over yet.

A center politician says: “There is a risk that Baume-Schneider will be elected. But that wouldn’t be in the SP’s mind. It would go into the 2023 election year without German-speaking Swiss in the Federal Council. »

What speaks for Baume-Schneider’s choice: in the end, not only origin and position count, but also personal sympathies. And since the accessible Jurassic woman should score more points in Parliament than the cool Basel woman.

A final decision will be made in ten days. Then the United Federal Assembly proceeds to the election.