After ten years of red-green dominance, the conservative parties regain the majority in the largest canton in western Switzerland. The SP candidate Cesla Amarelle was voted out, while the SVP is still not represented.
The winner of the day: Central President Valérie Dittli was surprisingly elected to the Vaud government.
Only one thing was clear after the first round of the Vaud government elections: the incumbent State Councilor Christelle Luisier (FDP) has been re-elected. In the second ballot on Sunday, the six other seats were up for grabs. Two classic left-right blocks faced each other. The tension was correspondingly high – which, among other things, significantly increased the turnout compared to the first round.
Shortly before 3 p.m. it was clear that the conservative alliance would prevail and thus regain the government majority after ten years of red-green dominance. She places four of her five candidates in the State Council – in addition to Luisier, the two FDP National Councilors Isabelle Moret and Frédéric Borloz.
However, the election of Central President Valérie Dittli, who grew up in Zug, is a real sensation: Not only is she now holding an office as an elected representative of the people for the first time, she was also in the parliamentary elections for the Grand Council and the Municipal Council of Lausanne with her candidacy failed. She also heads a small party. The 29-year-old is likely to be one of the youngest members of the government of all times across all cantons.
defeat for the SP
The SVP candidate Michaël Buffat ends up in last place of the remaining candidates by some distance. The largest party in Switzerland remains unsuccessful in Vaud, even in repeated attempts to regain at least one seat of government. The SVP has not been represented in the State Council since 2012.
But the more significant defeat is suffered by the red-green alliance. Although she places three of her candidates – the two incumbent SP women Nuria Gorrite and Rebecca Ruiz as well as the new Green Vassilis Venizelos – in the State Council, the head of education Cesla Amarelle, on the other hand, has been voted out.
Amarelle is probably paying the price for controversial reforms in the Vaud schools and the Covid measures that are particularly challenging for the education system (keyword: compulsory masks in the classroom). The fact that two criminal charges were recently filed against her – as was announced shortly after the elections – certainly didn’t help her either. After the SP lost a lot of ground in the parliamentary elections, it now has to deal with a major setback at government level.
Like a soccer team
Applause breaks out when the five candidates from the conservative «Alliance vaudoise» arrive at the election center. They stretch their hands in the air – and, like a victorious football team, put their heads together in a circle. What was already tangible during the campaign is confirmed at this moment: the three women and two men were not only a partnership of convenience to win the government majority, they also understand each other personally. Buffat, the troupe’s joker, even started a brief battle cry: “We’ve beaten the left!” he shouted happily.
Dittli can hardly believe her success. Just a few months ago, she was not known to the general public – and now she is suddenly a state councilor in Switzerland’s third most populous canton. She explains the success with the dynamism of Allianz, a “super team”, as she says, visibly moved. “But I didn’t think it would go so well.”
The Dittli Sisters
Her election now leads to the unusual but not entirely new situation of a member of the government having to work with a parliament in which their own party is not represented. Dittli does not want to overstate this problem: “I don’t feel without representation. It has forces of the political center and the FDP has given me very strong support. » She also has allies in the SVP, she says.
Valérie Dittli’s choice is remarkable for another reason: her sister Laura is also president of a cantonal center (in Zug) – and she is also running for government office in the upcoming elections in autumn. Her sister had “always been a fighter”, so the result didn’t surprise her, says Laura Dittli, who was also present in the election center. For her own campaign, she takes with her that elections are won “on the street, in conversation with the population,” she says – and immediately has to get rid of a photographer who wants to summon her for a “group photo” because he mistakes her for her sister .
Once a «winning machine»
The faces on the red-green side are significantly longer. It was already apparent after the first ballot that the SP – which had long been considered a “winning machine” in Vaud – would struggle to defend its three seats. However, the left alliance hoped that they could mobilize more than the opposition for the decisive passage.
Canton President Jessica Jaccoud is somewhat at a loss if Amarelle missed re-election. The education department is fundamentally discussed emotionally. “Everyone has been to school, everyone has an opinion,” she says. Until the elections, however, there was “no evidence of any major uneasiness” towards Amarelle, either on the part of the teachers or on the part of the parents, she says.
It is precisely this education department that is now at the center of the forthcoming redistribution of government tasks. It is quite possible that Dittli will take on the thankless function, which is also associated with political opportunities – she focused on educational issues during the election campaign. According to the Vaud State Chancellery, the discussions are expected to take place in May. The new government will finally take office on July 1st.