Patrick Luethy
CVP party president Sandra Kolly-Altermatt is the favorite at the start. In the first ballot, the canton councilor, who belongs to the party’s social wing, achieved the best result of the unelected.
If Kolly-Altermatt makes the leap into the executive branch, women will for the first time have a majority in the five-member government council.
The FDP wants to regain its second seat, which it lost to the Greens in 2017 after 65 years. In the runoff election it should be tight between FDP parliamentary group leader Peter Hodel and CVP candidate Thomas A. Müller. In the first ballot, Hodel was only 286 votes behind Müller, who is a lawyer and vice-president of the CVP.
SVP runs for the runoff election
The SVP is also running for the runoff election with Cantonal Councilor Richard Aschberger – although Aschberber was more than 6,700 votes behind the FDP candidate in the first ballot and landed in last place.
The SVP, which has formed the second largest parliamentary group since the cantonal parliament was elected in March, has so far made five unsuccessful attempts to win a seat in the government.
In the first ballot on March 7th, the three previous members of the government were confirmed in office. These are Brigit Wyss (Greens) and Susanne Schaffner (SP). Remo Ankli (FDP) achieved the best voting result. The two CVP government councilors Roland Heim and Roland Fürst did not run after eight years. (SDA)