GENEVA, Oct 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Switzerland holds national elections on
Sunday in a vote that could see unprecedented gains for parties demanding
bold climate action and a possible slip for the anti-immigrant right-wing.
Opinion polls point to a “green wave” during the vote, the Sotomo
political research institute said, possibly ushering in one of the most
significant shifts in recent Swiss political history.
The Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which has repeatedly been accused of
demonising migrants, is likely to remain the largest parliamentary party,
with opinion polls giving it over 27 percent support in the wealthy Alpine
nation.
But that is down from the 29 percent the SVP garnered in 2015, and
multiple surveys have shown that climate change has displaced migration as
the top priority among the Swiss electorate.
The Green Party, which won just over seven percent in 2015, is now backed
by nearly 11 percent of voters, according to a poll released this month by
public broadcaster RTS.
Meanwhile, the Green Liberals — an environmentalist party with
libertarian socio-economic policies — has also seen its fortunes rise, with
the RTS poll giving it over seven percent support, compared to less than five
percent four years ago.
– Green cabinet seat? –
If the environmentalist parties match or outperform their poll numbers
they could, through an alliance, force their way into the executive branch
for the first time.
Under Switzerland’s unique political system, the election will decide the
200 lower house lawmakers and 46 senators elected to four-year terms, but the
make-up of the executive Federal Council will not be decided until December
11.
The country’s so-called “magic formula” sees the council’s seven cabinet
positions divided among the four leading parties.
Currently, six cabinet seats are shared equally between the SVP, the
Socialist Party and the right-leaning Free Democratic Party, with the
centrist Christian Democrats holding the seventh seat.
The presidency rotates each year.
Analysts have questioned whether a environmental alliance could crack the
cabinet, in part because there is no guarantee that the leftwing Greens and
the libertarian Green Liberals could agree on a unity candidate.
But Green Party vice president Lisa Mazzone told AFP that, given the
severity of the climate emergency, her bloc intends to be “a force” in the
executive.
– ‘Dormant electorate’ –
Turnout in Swiss national elections has not passed 50 percent since 1975,
prompting jokes among some political observers that abstainers have been the
country’s largest bloc for more than four decades.
Mazzone said the Green strategy has relied on mobilising “a dormant
electorate” by targeting young people who have stayed away from politics but
are increasingly worried about climate change.
The Greens have “identified a lot of potential among abstainers,” she told
AFP.