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Five instead of seven seats – the initiative definitely has a chance. In Lucerne, on the other hand, the opposite is being discussed.
The Basel presidential department is doing its job poorly and could therefore be abolished again, says Robert Schiess, former head of Basel’s homeland security and co-initiator of the referendum that also wants to reduce the number of departments from seven to five. “By downsizing the government, the canton can also save a lot of money,” Schiess is convinced.
By downsizing the government, the canton can save a lot of money.
Schiess launched the initiative two years ago. At that time, the presidential department, which was only set up in 2009, made negative headlines: the local media mocked the unsuccessful appearances of the then district president Elisabeth Ackermann (Greens). Reports of nasty staff disputes came flooding in from the History Museum, which reports to the Presidential Department, and no one was able to resolve them.
Legend:
The leadership of the Basel Presidential Department by the former government councilor Elisabeth Ackermann was the trigger for the downsizing initiative.
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Ackermann’s predecessor, the Green Guy Morin, was also unable to properly fill the representative office. Even then it was said that the establishment of the presidential department had been a mistake.
Great council and government against initiative
Of course, Schiess’ initiative found little support in the Greater Council and in the government. Only SVP is in favor of desire. That’s not surprising. The SVP has never been represented in the government, so it would lose nothing if it were accepted.
Chief officials will also have to take care of politically sensitive business if they are accepted.
Government spokesman Marco Greiner argues against the initiative with democratic-political arguments: “If the initiative is accepted, in the future chief civil servants will also have to take care of politically sensitive business, since the members of the government cannot do everything.”
The question, Greiner continues, is whether that is desirable. He also points out that in Basel-Stadt, due to the small size of the canton, the government handles both city and cantonal tasks in one person. The workload is therefore higher than elsewhere. “In almost all other cantons there are parliaments and executives at community or city level. That relieves a cantonal government immensely.”
The Basel electorate will have the last word. The referendum has a good chance of being accepted. A number of voters could “show it to those up there”.
Lucerne discusses the opposite
Lucerne reduced its cantonal government from seven to five members around 20 years ago at the request of the SVP. Now the Greens want to turn right and increase the number of government members to seven again.
Their reasoning: the canton is growing rapidly, the government has to take on more and more tasks, which is why a seven-person committee is needed again.
Legend:
The Lucerne cantonal government has five members – for almost seven years no woman has been elected to the executive.
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In addition, according to the Lucerne Green Canton Councilor Rahel Estermann, who submitted the proposal: “With seven members, the chance that the city of Lucerne will be represented in the government again increases, left-green also has a better chance of an executive office and ultimately increase the chances of a woman being elected to the executive branch.”
In fact, the Lucerne cantonal government has been firmly in male hands again for almost seven years.
However, Estermann’s initiative is likely to have a difficult time in the middle-class cantonal council. Because the majority of Parliament thinks today’s solution with five members of the government is good.