The bourgeois alliance has managed to overthrow the ten-year left-wing majority in the Vaud government.
The two previous SP state councilors Nuria Gorrite and Rebecca Ruiz were re-elected in the second ballot with the best results. The two FDP national councillors, Frédéric Borloz and Isabelle Moret, achieved third and fourth place. Vassilis Venizelos (Greens) was able to defend the Greens’ seat and scored 1078 votes more than the newly elected Valérie Dittli (centre).
The previous director of education, Cesla Amarelle (SP), was not re-elected. And Michaël Buffat (SVP) from the bourgeois alliance took last place in the second ballot.
SRF correspondent Rolf Dietrich expected a middle-class majority in a ratio of 4:3 and hardly 5:2 as after the first ballot. “The center candidate Valérie Dittli from the bourgeois alliance has not yet held a political office and if elected, she would not have her own parliamentary group in the Grand Council because the center is not represented in the cantonal parliament of Vaud.”
Valérie Dittli manages to enter the government
The choice of 29-year-old Zugerin Valérie Dittli is a medium sensation. She said she was “touched” that she had become a state councilor. “It’s a big surprise for me too. I can hardly understand what is happening to me, »said the center politician, who until recently was still an unknown. “I am very happy, even if I regret that the entire legal alliance has not made any progress,” she added regarding the non-election of Michaël Buffat (SVP).
As President of the Center Vaud (middle of Vaud), a small party in the canton, the native of Zug was “proud” that her party was represented for the first time in the Vaud State Council. “It’s a new era for us.” Politically, Dittli had only tried once to get into the municipal council of the city of Lausanne, but he only received 1,857 votes at the time.
FDP sees its goal achieved
The FDP is also satisfied after Christelle Luisier was elected in the first ballot and Isabelle Moret and Frédéric Borloz in the second. “Our alliance worked very well. The goal was to overthrow the left and we succeeded in that,” said Marc-Olivier Buffat, President of the FDP Vaud.
In his opinion, it was left-wing voters who put Valérie Dittli on their list and thus made it possible for the majority to change. The FDP President, on the other hand, regretted the “hate campaign” of the left, which put Michaël Buffat at a disadvantage.
In the SVP, however, the president of the cantonal section, Kevin Grangier, did not perceive Michaël Buffat’s non-election as a defeat. “We are making a decisive contribution to the return of the centre-right to the Vaud government,” he said.
Citizens in a better starting position
The bourgeois alliance was able to record its first success in the first ballot. The liberal Christelle Luisier, who succeeded during the 2020 legislative period, was the only candidate to achieve an absolute majority with 113 more votes (50.08 percent).
In the second ballot, eight candidates ran for the runoff. In the first ballot on March 20, none of the three previous social democratic state councilors were elected.