The Zurich canton councils do not want to abolish their offices

The majority of Zurich’s cantonal council wants to keep his office. The Council rejected the SVP proposal for seat reduction by 90 votes against and 79 votes in favour. The States will therefore continue to consist of 180 members.

With her postulate, the SVP wanted to achieve that the council “becomes more efficient”. She believed fewer ghosts would work faster. In addition, the frustration potential of the individual council members can be reduced in this way, for example because they can be involved more in committees.

A smaller parliament could be more efficient

However, only the center could do something with this argument. “If we see how many unnecessary requests are submitted, it could just be that a smaller parliament works more efficiently,” says Yvonne Bürgin (Rüti). If fewer people compete for attention, there would be more time for the essentials, namely legal advice.

However, all other factions disagreed. “The remaining heads would only be subjected to an even greater burden,” says Dieter Kläy (FDP, Winterthur). In addition, the real time wasters are not the advances, but the complex bills such as the water law, structure plans and the like.

The effort for individuals would increase

Benno Scherrer (GLP, Uster) said if a cantonal council mandate entails even more work, you have to ask yourself if it is still suitable for the militia. Lack of time is already the main reason for early resignations from the Council.

For SP cantonal councilor Sylvie Matter (Zürich), the advance was like a “Pandora’s box” because it would bring a whole series of problems and open questions. “Constituency reform is needed,” she said. This would create mini-constituencies that can hardly be evenly represented.

Individual representatives nevertheless voted for referral to the Executive Board of the Council, but only out of interest in the explanatory notes that would then have been prepared.

Tight spaces

However, the real trigger for the SVP initiative was not the desire for more efficiency, but the desire for more space. The faction submitted the initiative last April, at the same time that the cantonal council was debating the planned renovation of the old town hall on Limmatquai.

Even then it was clear that even a renovation cannot create a generous space. The SVP then submitted this proposal for parliament to be lowered. (SDA)