Fewer layoffs than before the 2019 fall elections

About ten months before the national elections, it becomes clear that fewer council members no longer want to stand for election in the autumn than in 2019. Fewer than 30 members of parliament have announced their departure.

So far, four of the five factions in the small chamber have been affected by the dismissal of the Council of States. After 2019, the SP again has to deal with a decline in the number of seats.

Senior is gone

Until the resignation of Paul Rechsteiner (70, SG) at the end of the winter session, the SP had eight representatives in the Council of States. The party must defend Rechsteiner’s seat in March. The St. Gallen had been on the National Council since 1986. He was subsequently elected to the Council of States in 2011. He was the longest serving Member of Parliament.

Two other representatives of the Social Democrats want to leave at the end of the legislature: Hans Stöckli (70, BE) and Roberto Zanetti (68, SO).

And there is a fourth exit from the SP party in the room. Marina Carobbio Guscetti (56) from Ticino is running for a seat in the cantonal government in April. In 2019, she was allowed to take over the seat from center politician Filippo Lombardi (66).

Servant and Cuprecht

The SVP also has a relatively large number of departures to process. Two members of their delegation of six – Hansjörg Knecht (62, AG) and Alex Kuprecht (65, SZ) – are not seeking re-election in October. Knecht left the SP four years ago.

Three of the twelve members of the Council of States want to leave the FDP: Olivier Français (67, VD), Thomas Hefti (63, GL) and Ruedi Noser (61, ZH) have announced their resignation. Nidwaldner Freisinner Hans Wicki (58) is still keeping a low profile when it comes to further terms of office, and Philippe Bauer (60, NE) has also not made any announcements yet.

Ex-president retires

Of the five Greens, only former party chairman Adèle Thorens Goumaz (51, VD) no longer wants to commit a term of office. So far there has been no announcement of resignation from the 14-strong and largest fraction of the small chamber, the center. However, Peter Hegglin (62) from Zug has not yet announced his plans.

So far, only Vaud has had to opt for an entirely new professional representation due to dismissal. A member of the Council of States wants to go to each of the cantons of Aargau, Bern, Glarus, Solothurn, Schwyz and Zurich.

This means that the wave of small room innovations in fall 2019 should be followed by a smaller one next fall. In 2019, no less than 19 of the 46 members of the Council of States were not eligible for election and three others did not make it to re-election.

At the start of the 51st parliamentary term, the then President of the Council, Hans Stöckli, said that there had never been so many new members in the small chamber at the same time. The small room had become greener, younger and more feminine.

Berner has to go

The situation in the National Council is even less clear and some cards are still hidden. So far there have been 21 resignation announcements from the SVP, SP, Mitte and FDP factions, but none from the Greens and GLP. In 2019 you won the “Climate and Women’s Choice”. Many of their representatives have only been in office for a short time.

Of the 55 SVP representatives in the grand chamber, eight no longer want to participate. The Bernese Andreas Aebi (64), Andrea Geissbühler (46) and Erich von Siebenthal (64) have to leave their seats due to the internal party term. Yves Nidegger (65, GE), Walter Wobmann (65, SO), Pirmin Schwander (61, SZ), Verena Herzog (66, TG) and Jean-Pierre Grin (75, VD) also want to leave. However, Schwander wants to run for the Council of States.

Markwalder and Fiala

There are five departures among the 29 members of the National Council of the FDP. Christa Markwalder (47, BE), Jacques Bourgeois (64, FR), Christian Lüscher (59, DE), Kurt Fluri (67, SO) and Doris Fiala (65, ZH) no longer want to be candidates.

So far, four departures of the 39-strong SP faction are known. They are Yvonne Feri (56, AG), Prisca Birrer-Heimo (63, LU), Edith Graf-Litscher (58, TG) and Ada Marra (49, VD).

Four departures from the center have also been reported – the parliamentary group has 31 members. Martin Landolt (54, GL), Jean-Paul Gwind (70, JU), Ida Glanzmann (64, LU) and Alois Gmür (67, SZ) want to go to the end of the legislature. Ruth Humbel (65, AG) will retire early at the end of February.

The National Council was rejuvenated four years ago in the autumn: 29 members no longer applied and 31 others were not re-elected. In the three previous elections, about two dozen members of the National Council had not been re-elected. (SDA)