The canton of Zurich will vote in just over five weeks. The election campaign is slowly but surely entering the hot phase. Juso chairman Nicola Siegrist (26) is now raging on Twitter about the GLP: He writes that more than 80 percent of the cantonal council candidates on the election platform Smartvote would declare that they support an extension of parental leave.
The reason for Siegrist’s displeasure: In 2021, the Green Liberals had sunk 14 weeks of parental leave in the cantonal council. Because this should be introduced at national level.
It is quite possible that there is also a trace of nervousness in Siegrist’s excavations. SP, Groenen, EVP, AL and GLP often do things together in the subdistrict council. The parties are also jointly campaigning for the cantonal elections. But campaigning is campaigning. According to polls, the SP is in danger of losing votes. The GLP, on the other hand, is likely to emerge as the big winner.
flag in the wind?
GLP veteran Benno Scherrer, who is running for the Zurich government council, has recently made a name for himself. For a long time he was against extending the runway at Zurich airport. Now, shortly before the elections, a sudden turnaround: he told the “Tages-Anzeiger” that he was now in favor of extending the runway – provided that the number of flights did not increase.
There was prompt criticism from the SP on Twitter. For example, Cantonal Councilor Felix Hoesch (52) wrote that this shows how much Scherrer weighs the economy and ignores the “noise-ridden population”.
Corina Gredig (35), national councilor and co-chair of the GLP of the canton of Zurich, does not view Scherrer’s statements as narrow-minded. Finally, he clearly stated that his opinion on the runway expansion was his personal point of view. “The parliamentary group in the cantonal council will take a position in the spring,” says Gredig. And further: “Net zero 2040 is still our top priority”. The party would not support projects that would conflict with this.
With regard to parental leave, Gredig points out that the GLP still favors a national solution. The party has always doubted the feasibility at canton level – and therefore decided in 2021 in the canton council as a party to allow voting. (bgs)