In Obwalden, the health director Maya Büchi-Kaiser was elected from the government. In Nidwalden, the GLP wins an executive seat at the expense of the liberals. It is the first seat of government for the Green Liberals in central Switzerland.
The Obwaldner finance and health director Maya Büchi-Kaiser has to give up her seat in the government.
The FDP failed completely at the start of the cantonal election year of 2022. In both Obwalden and Nidwalden the liberals lose a seat in the government. The defeat in Obwalden, where the previous finance and health director Maya Büchi-Kayser was voted out, is particularly bitter. She will be replaced in the five-member executive by Cornelia Kaufmann-Hurschler from the Mitte party. In Obwalden, which is one of their home countries, the FDP no longer governs.
Failed due to hospital policy
Büchi’s expulsion comes as no surprise, as she has repeatedly been criticized in recent months for her politics in connection with the Obwalden cantonal hospital. This is facing a difficult future after Obwalden decided a few years ago to go it alone and not to cooperate with the cantonal hospital in Lucerne.
The Corona crisis has further exacerbated the financial problems. In this unfortunate situation, the health director was unable to win the trust of the population. The government kept a report commissioned by the government on the future of health care in the small canton under wraps. So even rumors made the rounds that the cantonal hospital would be closed.
The “CVP – the middle”, as the party is called in Obwalden, is the beneficiary of this situation. Her candidate Cornelia Kaufmann-Hurschler achieved a brilliant result and was even able to leave Daniel Wyler (SVP) behind. After all, the SVP can thus defend its first seat of government, which it conquered four years ago in Obwalden.
In the neighboring canton of Nidwalden, the FDP will only have one representative in the seven-member executive. The liberals did not succeed in defending the seat vacated by the resignation of finance director Alfred Bossard. Your two candidates, Judith Odermatt-Fallegger and Dominik Steiner, clearly missed out on entering government.
The green wave is a GLP wave
The Green Liberals, on the other hand, can celebrate, who, with Peter Truttmann, have won their first seat in a central Swiss government. Truttmann managed the feat of leaving all new candidates from SVP and FDP behind when he first started the GLP. The green wave has definitely arrived in Central Switzerland. However, in Central Switzerland it is bourgeois and not left-wing. The Greens did not contest the government council elections in either Obwalden or Nidwalden. The SP did not put forward any female candidates for the executive branch in either of the two cantons.
In both cantons, the middle can look forward to an excellent result in their home countries. In contrast to the FDP, it can defend its vacant seat in the canton of Nidwalden. The former party president Therese Rotzer now sits there in the executive branch. With Res Schmid, Rotzer was also able to leave a former SVP player behind. In both cantons, the former CVP relied on women’s power and thus showed a good hand. The name change seems to have given the party new impetus.
For the SVP, the trees in Central Switzerland do not grow to the sky. Your additional candidate, Armin Odermatt, managed to win the absolute majority, but made fewer votes than his competitor Peter Truttmann from GLP. It therefore remains with two SVP seats in the seven-member body. Unlike in Obwalden, all previous government councilors in Nidwalden managed to be re-elected.
Corona skeptics beaten off in last place
From a national perspective, the Nidwalden government election was particularly interesting because Urs Lang was the first representative of the Aufrecht Schweiz party, which was critical of measures, to take part in a cantonal executive election. His miserable performance far behind the candidates of the established parties makes it clear that corona skeptics will find it very difficult to make the leap into “normal” politics. Because in Nidwalden, as in the rest of Central Switzerland, the number of critics of the measures was comparatively large. Now the voters have said: We don’t need you in the government.
The FDP can draw some consolation from the cantonal elections in Obwalden. In the 55-strong parliament, the Liberals are among the winners, as they can increase their number of seats from 8 to 11. The CVP – the center – can also gain 3 seats. With its 19 seats, the center remains by far the strongest force in Sarner town hall. The party strategists around President Gerhard Pfister will see this good performance in the home countries as a positive signal for the further elections in 2022.
The parliamentary elections did not go according to plan for the SVP, which has grown slowly but steadily in Obwalden in recent years. She loses two seats. With 13 members of parliament, however, it is the second strongest force in the cantonal council. The national downward trend of the social democrats is also continuing in central Switzerland. SP and Juso have to cope with two seat losses and only have 6 seats. The Greens did not even stand in the elections in Obwalden.
The situation is different for the Green Liberals, who ran for the first time and can now send two representatives to Parliament. As in Nidwalden, the successful party of recent years is now also on the political map in Obwalden. On the other hand, the CSP, which is an independent force in Obwalden and is left of center, had to lose its feathers. She loses four of her previous 8 seats. Analysis will show whether their constituents have turned to the GLP.