Zurich wants “Super Mario”

The old Zurich government is probably the new Zurich government – this is how a study by the research institute GfS Bern on behalf of the “NZZ” can be summarized.

All sitting members would therefore be re-elected. But the sequence is surprising:

Security director Mario Fehr (64) is allowed to participate in the election campaign in a sleeping car. Nearly 60 percent of all Zurich residents polled said they wanted to vote for “Super Mario”. No wonder: Fehr had already been elected in 2019 with the best result of all candidates.

In the meantime, however, a lot has changed: in the middle of last year, Fehr left the SP after months of quarrels – so he can no longer count on the support of Zurich’s second strongest party. But the red base is not impressed: almost half of the SP voters want Fehr to remain in government.

Fehr is even better centre-right. Nearly three-quarters of Liberals want it on the ballot, as do 75 percent of SVP voters. He receives the same number of votes as SVP government councilor Natalie Rickli (46). Fehr is even better in the middle: there he even surpasses her government councilor Silvia Steiner (64).

Fehr’s popularity is a problem for the SP anyway, because the chance that they will be represented again with two seats in the government is small.

Behind Fehr in second place is SVP Health Director Natalie Rickli. 54 percent of voters want to vote for her. “Natalie Rickli was very visible during the Corona period and was recently even traded as a candidate for the Federal Council,” explains Cloé Jans of GfS Bern in the “NZZ”. “Now you can take advantage of that.” However, she is also not undisputed: in her own party she convinces only three-quarters of the voters – only the Central Council of Government Silvia Steiner is so badly received by her own people.

Rickli’s fellow party member Ernst Stocker (67) is doing better. It lands on nearly every SVP ballot, but receives only 54 percent of the vote overall. It will be easy enough for a solid (probably last) re-election.

The Groene Martin Neukom (36) is fourth. Almost every second resident of Zurich wants to vote for him as of today. In his own base he even gets 100 percent. On the other hand, he cannot hope for FDP and SVP votes.

Jacqueline Fehr (59) experienced a real crash. In 2019, she was the second best-elected government councilor after her namesake (and then party friend) Mario Fehr. Now the SP director of Justice, who is currently under pressure because of the data scandal, is only in fifth place. Only 42 percent can imagine writing it on his or her ballot paper. After all, she gets 75 percent in her own party and in the Greens.

Economic director Carmen Walker Späh (64) also knows that her own party is behind her. Yet only 41 percent of all voters can imagine voting for the Freisinnige. It is difficult to pinpoint the reasons behind this. There wasn’t a big scandal like Fehr’s, but the people of Zurich don’t seem really happy with Walker Späh’s work.

The latest on the move is director of education Silvia Steiner. Even in her own center party she cannot convince all voters – and certainly not in the others. As of today, only 37 percent of all Zurich residents would vote in favour.

Two more months

But: It could still be enough for re-election – because the challengers – especially Peter Grünenfelder (55, FDP), Priska Seiler Graf (54, SP) and Benno Scherrer (GLP) – fare even worse in favor of the voters . None of them exceed 30 percent.

But: There are still two months until February 12 – the hot phase of the election campaign is yet to come. (sf)