Christian Jott Jenny remains mayor of St. Moritz

When Christian Jott Jenny was elected Mayor of St. Moritz four years ago, he drank champagne from a water glass. A Swiss television reporter filmed the scene and asked, “What’s on your mind?”

“What do you have to do now?” Jenny answered and laughed. hearty. So, as a lively comedy, Christian Jott Jenny’s career began in the municipal administration of St. Moritz.

Even then, Jenny was more than would fit into a subordinate clause: singer, musician, actor, entertainer, a native of Zurich who also lived in St. Moritz, founder of the Festival da Jazz in St. Moritz. A dazzling figure, “a jack of all trades”, it was said. When the first surprise about his choice wore off, Jenny seemed quite appropriate for the swanky St. Moritz.

He greeted the first community meeting in a royal blue velvet suit. He shook hands at the entrance and spoke charmingly. But it soon became clear that this St. Moritz, albeit cosmopolitan, is just a village. With residents and the others. With boring problems to solve.

“If I had known what to expect, I would not have done it,” Jenny said halfway through her term the “NZZ on Sunday”.

Extravagant on holidays, criticized on weekdays

At the first August 1 celebration, Jenny, the mayor, sang alongside Pepe Lienhard. “More than extravagant” it was, said an enthusiastic guest on television. The August 1st celebration, this bratwurst event: under Jenny, it became a spectacle. But every Sunday is followed by a Monday. And on weekdays, in the community hall, there were soon critical voices.

Local councils accused President Jenny of lacking dossier knowledge. He is not present enough in St. Moritz and spends too much time on Zurich stages. The colleagues wanted from Jenny what every community is at its core: an administration. But Jenny wasn’t an administrator, never wanted to be.

He always answered the same criticism: he was not a micromanager. He has other tasks and qualities. Jenny bubbled and beamed as Foreign Minister, “I’m racing through Switzerland like a little tornado and swirling for St. Moritz”: That’s how he applied for re-election in the «Engadin Post».

Jenny didn’t know for a long time whether he actually still wanted the office. He carefully considered his candidacy.

Jenny was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and he has spoken out about it several times. Asked by television if that was the reason why he was a singer, entertainer and mayor at the same time, Jenny said: “I have so many interests that I want to pursue – and I get bored extremely quickly.”

Prominent St. Moritz residents expected Jenny to forgo a second candidacy. Former spa director Hanspeter Danuser formulated the modest expectation early on that Jenny would end his term of office with enthusiasm. After that he can go. Back to the stage.

The political entrants

In addition, many election promises remained just promises. Jenny wanted to introduce voting rights for foreigners, but the electorate didn’t want it. He wanted to realize a valley run that doesn’t exist yet, and the regional ice rink? He now promises them again for four years.

“In terms of projects, the balance sheet looks rather modest,” was how the local newspaper summed up Jenny’s first term. He himself described it as a grueling struggle against the politically entrenched.

“For established politics, my election four years ago was an accident,” he said in an interview. You let him feel that. His “work” was impaired by the “basic attitude of some political figures in the area”.

Jenny could have retired – a new mayor, a local politician from the Mitte party, was ready. But Jenny wanted to show it to the established. If he is elected a second time, it can no longer be dismissed as an accident: “Then the establishment will have to come to terms with it somehow.”

So what had started as a lively comedy has reached a dramatic climax in the past few weeks, actually in the spirit of Jenny, who as mayor always remained an entertainer. He staged his second candidacy as if he were playing the theatre.

On the day the application deadline for the post closed, Jenny waited until thirty minutes before the deadline. Then he had his candidacy presented in the community hall, not by just anyone, but by the 88-year-old community fright of St. Moritz: Adolf Häberli, for Jenny just “Dölf”. An “honorable citizen” who has grown dear to him, as Jenny said.

It was staged, it was ironic. And some St. Moritz felt Jenny’s entire municipal council that way. It’s a form of entertainment that the place seems to like.

Jenny’s challenger lost 113 votes in Sunday’s election. He had applied for the presidency “with heart, diligence and understanding” and wanted to make St. Moritz an “attractive place to work, live and vacation”. One of his campaign promises was the most boring thing politics has to offer: administrative reform.

St. Moritz prefers Christian Jott Jenny, this champagne from a water glass: not classic, not quite appropriate, but sparkling.