The Swiss elections brought an overall slide to the right. The clear winner is the SVP (Swiss People's Party), which won nine additional seats in the National Council. The EVP (Evangelical People's Party) and the EDU (Federal Democratic Union), which practice politics on the basis of the Gospel, are now represented by two politicians each.
Unfortunately, the predictions have come true: The Aargau EVP seat of party president Lilian Studer was lost in the federal elections. Marc Jost in the canton of Bern and Nik Gugger in the canton of Zurich, however, were able to defend their seats. In the coming legislature, they will continue the value- and solution-oriented bridge-building policy of the EVP in the National Council as part of the strengthened center parties.
Andreas Gafner: "I look forward to working with Erich!"
The development of the EDU is positive: it gains one seat and is now represented with two seats in the National Council. Andreas Gafner (Canton of Bern) was confirmed in parliament for another four years and Zurich EDU cantonal councilor Erich Vontobel made the leap onto the national political stage thanks to list connections with the Covid measures opponents "Aufrecht Zürich" and the "Mass-voll!" list. The re-elected Bernese Oberland National Councilor Andreas Gafner is pleased to be able to represent the EDU in the National Council together with his Zurich Oberland party colleague in the future. "We have only met each other a few times in person. Today we congratulated each other on the election by telephone. I'm looking forward to working with Erich!"
For Andreas Gafner himself, it is a great satisfaction to have won the mandate as EDU in the canton of Bern on his own. "Four years ago, it worked out mainly thanks to list connections, but this time we have managed it on our own. We were able to significantly increase our share of the electorate - from 2.5 to almost 4 percent!"
Lilian Studer: "Grateful for the last four years"
The Evangelical People's Party (EVP) entered the elections with gender parity in 18 cantons with more than 350 candidates, while the Federal Democratic Union (EDU) in turn sent around 200 candidates into the race in 14 cantons. While the EDU was able to celebrate a seat gain yesterday, the EVP had to mourn its lost seat. Party President Lilian Studer did not manage to be re-elected due to the loss of a list connection with the BDP (the Conservative Democratic Party, which merged with the Christian People's Party this time to form "Die Mitte" - the Middle). She looks back on her time in the National Council with gratitude: "I thank everyone who worked enormously to make the impossible possible. Now, unfortunately, it wasn't enough. I have considered it a privilege to have been able to help shape our society at the national level for the last four years. I am very grateful for that!"
In its media release, the EVP draws attention to the shortcomings of the current Swiss electoral system. This would favor the larger parties at the expense of the smaller ones. EVP National Councilor Marc Jost proposes to abolish the list connections and to introduce a new counting method on the national level (see article in the Tagesanzeiger of 24.09.2023).
Originally published on Livenet.ch. Translation by CDI staff.
