Federal Council candidate to lead Council of States

The SP nominates Eva Herzog (60) as future president of the Council of States. The favorite to succeed Simonetta Sommaruga (62) narrowly failed in the election against Élisabeth Baume-Schneider (58) on Wednesday.

Baume-Schneider should have taken over the presidency of the Council of States in 2024 as the first vice president. After their election to the state government, the Social Democrats must propose a replacement for the small chamber.

Three ways

As Blick reported, only one comrade and two comrades were eligible: Herzog from Basel, Carlo Sommaruga (63) from Geneva and Daniel Jositsch (57) from Zurich. The latter fell out of favor with his party because he had positioned himself for the Bundesrat elections, although the SP leadership only wanted female candidates, which the parliamentary group later confirmed.

And he is persona non grata with the SP because Jositsch was chosen as a wild candidate on election day and did not go to the microphone to explain that he was not available for the Bundesrat.

On the contrary: Jositsch had made it clear to parliamentarians even before the elections that he did not want to play by his party’s rules, Blick learned.

Herzog must follow Häberli

There is no mention of the other SP state councilors, for example because they no longer want to stand for election in the 2023 elections or want to run for another office.

Now Eva Herzog will act as Vice President in 2023 and succeed the newly elected President of the Council of States Brigitte Häberli-Koller (64, center) in 2024 to preside over the Stöckli, as the comrades have decided.

“I look ahead, continue to work at full steam and would be very happy with the new task,” says Herzog to Blick about the possible new office. The election takes place mid-week.