- The SP is sending the Baselstadt government president Beat Jans and the Graubünden National Councilor Jon Pult into the Federal Council elections on December 13th.
- The parliamentary group proposes her as a possible successor to Federal Councilor Alain Berset, as the party announced in Bern.
- Both could have shown the parliamentary group how they wanted to make Switzerland more social and bring the country into the future, said SP parliamentary group president Samira Marti to the media in Bern.
- It took 18 rounds of voting until the male two-person ticket was determined.
It’s been around three years Beat Jans District President of Basel-Stadt. Now the former National Councilor and Vice President of the SP Switzerland could crown his political career with a seat in the state government. Beat Jans has been a fixture in local and national politics for over two decades. Jans’ trademarks are his enthusiasm, eloquence and closeness to the people.
Jans grew up in Riehen BS as the child of a working-class family. He completed an apprenticeship as a farmer and trained as an agricultural technician before studying environmental sciences at ETH Zurich. Jan told the media that he comes from a humble background and never thought he would become a candidate for the Federal Council.
Legend:
The official SP Federal Council candidates Jon Pult (center left) and Beat Jans (center right) were honored after the parliamentary group meeting.
Keystone
The trilingual Graubünden SP National Council Jon Pult (born 1984) would like to strengthen the cohesion of Switzerland as a Federal Councilor. He sees the reform of the healthcare system as well as climate and European policy as one of the biggest challenges.
At the media conference, Pult was honored by the group’s trust. His main motivation is to strengthen Switzerland’s diversity and thus create cohesion. Pult was born in the Lower Engadine as a dual Swiss-Italian citizen. He entered politics at the age of 19 when he was elected to the Chur city parliament in 2004.
It was a fair and interesting election campaign, said co-president Mattea Meyer to the media on Saturday. The next few years would be challenging given the FDP and SVP majority in the Federal Council, which is also willing to use its power.
Therefore, in addition to Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, a strong voice is needed in the Federal Council to advance social Switzerland. Both Pult and Jans could be that voice, said Meyer.
The SP representatives in the National Council and the Council of States had already decided on Friday to run for the replacement election to succeed Berset with a two-person ticket. Anyone who doesn’t make it onto the ticket will likely have little chance of taking a seat in the state government.
Alain Berset’s career in the Federal Council – the best pictures
From a purely legal perspective, the united Federal Assembly is free to make its electoral decisions – and is not bound to the nominations of the respective parliamentary group. Since Christoph Blocher was voted out of the Federal Council and Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf was elected in 2007, no one has been elected to the state government against the wishes of their own party.
Five men, one woman
Six candidates applied to succeed Berset. Four of them are men from German-speaking Switzerland: the Bernese National Councilor Matthias Aebischer, his Graubünden council colleague Jon Pult, the Baselstadt government president Beat Jans and the Zurich Councilor of States Daniel Jositsch.
Berne government councilor and former National Councilor Evi Allemann was the only woman to register interest in the vacant Federal Council seat. The only applicant from French-speaking Switzerland was the Vaud National Councilor Roger Nordmann.