Elections in the canton of Zug – will the left manage to break up the purely bourgeois government? – News
In the Zug government council elections on October 2, ten candidates are vying for one of the seven seats.
Of the incumbent members, only Beat Villiger (centre) is no longer standing – after four legislatures he has announced his resignation.
This means that in the canton of Zug, four new candidates are up for election in addition to the six previous ones.
The incumbent members Heinz Tännler (SVP), Stephan Schleiss (SVP), Martin Pfister (middle), Silvia Thalmann (middle), Florian Weber (FDP) and Andreas Hostettler (FDP) start the election Sunday under good signs: None of them are caught the eye with gross political blunders over the past four years. Your electoral chances are therefore quite intact.
These former ones want to defend their seat in the government
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Legend:
Heinz Tännler, SVP
The 62-year-old is the veteran of the Zug government: he has been a member of the government council for almost 16 years and, as finance director, is the brain behind the canton’s low-tax strategy. He is considered dossier-proof – but critics accuse him of being too dominant.
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
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Legend:
Stephan Schleiss, SVP
With almost twelve years in office, the 49-year-old is the second most experienced member of the Zug government. He is the director of education and culture and is considered a good communicator – albeit with a military tone at times.
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
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Legend:
Martin Pfister, The Middle
Martin Pfister has been on the government council and head of the health department since 2016. As such, the 59-year-old was under a lot of pressure during the corona pandemic – and from the point of view of all parties he did a good job.
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
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Legend:
Silvia Thalmann, The Middle
The only woman in the Zug government was elected four years ago. Since then, the 61-year-old has been head of the Department of Economic Affairs. She is considered a silent worker, but after the outbreak of the Ukraine war she was suddenly in the spotlight because of Russian companies based in Zug.
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
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Legend:
Andreas Hostettler, FDP
The 54-year-old has been in office and head of the Interior Directorate since 2018. There was criticism for his monument protection law, with which protected houses can be demolished more easily. On the other hand, when he took in refugees from the Ukraine, he stood out as a good crisis manager.
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
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Legend:
Florian Weber, FDP
At 41, Florian Weber is the youngest member of the government council. He was elected four years ago and is head of the building department. He was not able to make a name for himself – which is also due to the fact that construction projects are rarely carried out within one legislature.
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
Only the seventh seat of government is really contested – the one that will become vacant because Beat Villiger, who has been a central government councilor for many years and director of security, is no longer standing. And so it is also possible that the government, which has been purely conservative for four years, will be reassembled after this election day in terms of party politics.
The center wants to defend Villiger’s seat with Laura Dittli. Although the lawyer is still very young at 31, she has been involved in cantonal politics for a long time: she has been a member of the cantonal parliament for eight years and has chaired the Zuger Mitte party for three years. Although she is a well-supported government candidate, the fact that the center can hold her third seat of government is not set in stone – measured by the share of voters, she is only marginally stronger than the other two conservative parties, the FDP and SVP.
Left-green wants to snatch a seat from the middle
There is also pressure from the left-green camp. This also represents around a quarter of the voters, but has not been represented in the government since 2018. SP and the Alternative – the Greens (ALG) are therefore jointly attacking: their candidate, the 52-year-old ALG cantonal councilor Tabea Zimmermann, is to bring back the seat of government that the left lost to the center in the last elections.
These candidates want to join the Zug government
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Legend:
Laura Dittli, The Middle
The 31-year-old wants to hold the third seat in the government for the middle. The lawyer has been a member of the cantonal council for eight years and has been president of the cantonal party for three years.
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
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Legend:
Tabea Zimmerman, ALG
52-year-old Tabea Zimmermann wants to get the left seat back. She works as a high school teacher. Politically, she is active in the cantonal council and in the Zug municipal parliament – there currently as president.
zvg
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Legend:
Tabea Estermann, GLP
The youngest candidate is 29-year-old Tabea Estermann. The auditor has not yet held a position in parliament, but she heads the cantonal party of the Green Liberals.
SRF
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Legend:
Adi Hadodo, upright train
The 54-year-old runs a radio and TV business. Adi Hadodo has not been politically active so far – the resistance to the Corona measures has politicized him.
SRF
The Green Liberals are also in the race for a seat in the government with 29-year-old auditor Tabea Estermann. So far, she has made little political appearance – just like Adi Hadodo, the fourth candidate who wants to join the Zug government: He is standing for “Aufrecht Zug”, a movement that arose from resistance to the Corona measures of the government covenant was created.
Will the cantonal council remain clearly civil?
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The cantonal council will also be elected in Zug on October 2nd. In the 80-strong body, the conservative parties have so far clearly had the upper hand – they hold around three quarters of all seats.
The Mitte and GLP factions are the strongest, followed by the SVP and FDP. The SP and the alternatives – the Greens together make up around a quarter of the seats. Of course you want to gain weight. However, it is unlikely that they can endanger the middle-class dominance in the council.
