A good year before the national elections, candidates and their parties are positioning themselves. An overview.
Tiana Angelina Moser has her sights set on the liberal seat in the Council of States.
the essentials in brief
- Zurich FDP member of the Council of States Ruedi Noser will step down at the end of the 2023 legislature.
- The Liberals want to replace Noser with National Councilor Regine Sauter.
- The previous SP Councilor of States Daniel Jositsch wants to compete again.
- The Greens and the GLP attack. Zurich City Councilor Daniel Leupi is in the starting blocks for the Greens, and National Councilor Tiana Moser for the GLP.
- Other parties are also likely to nominate candidates, including the largest party in Zurich, the SVP.
The aspects in detail
After Verena Diener, Tiana Moser is to become the second Green Liberal from Zurich to be elected to the Council of States. At least that’s what the cantonal GLP board wants. He recommends the longstanding National Councilor and faction leader for the Council of States elections in a year. It is already the second time that Moser wants to try it. In 2019, she clearly failed in the first ballot.
Why Moser again? The party writes in a statement that she is one of the “most prominent green-liberal personalities”. After eight years, it was also time for a woman to represent the female half of the canton of Zurich in Bern. Moser squints at the seat that will become vacant due to the announced resignation of former Ruedi Noser (FDP).
Moser convinced an internal party selection committee with her wealth of political experience, her credibility as a politician and as a person, as well as her will and ability to tackle the country’s most pressing challenges. The 43-year-old political and environmental scientist was President of the Foreign Policy Commission in Bern for two years, of which she is still a member today. There she is committed to “a cosmopolitan, networked Switzerland”. On October 26, the Zurich GLP members will make a final decision on their candidacy.
Before the most recent decision, the 58-year-old party founder Martin Bäumle was not averse to a candidacy for the Council of States. Like Moser, however, Bäumle had clearly failed in an earlier election to the Council of States; he had tried it in 2015.
The former SP national councilor Chantal Galladé, who has been in the GLP since 2019, had also not fundamentally ruled out a candidacy. However, she lacks internal party support: Galladé had also applied for the nomination for the Zurich government council, but was clearly defeated by her opponent Benno Scherrer. Galladé had previously run for the Council of States for the SP in 2007.
Like most cantons, Zurich sends two people to the Council of States. Since 2015, these are Daniel Jositsch (SP) and Ruedi Noser (FDP). You both moved from the National Council to the Council of States.
Ruedi Noser is retiring from national politics after 8 years in the Council of States and 12 years in the National Council. “It’s about time to pass on the seat,” said Noser in the NZZ interview. The 61-year-old IT entrepreneur wants to work more in business and spend more time with his family in the future.
Daniel Jositsch announced last fall that he wanted to compete again in 2023. He is a safe bet for his party. In both 2015 and 2019, the 57-year-old professor of criminal law was the only candidate to achieve an absolute majority in the first ballot and was therefore elected.
National Councilor Regine Sauter is to secure the seat of the Zurich FDP in the Council of States.
With the announcement of Noser’s departure, the FDP also presented a possible successor: National Councilor Regine Sauter. The 56-year-old is director of the Zurich Chamber of Commerce. She has been a national councilor since 2015, having previously been a cantonal councilor for 11 years.
Sauter was officially nominated at the Zurich FDP delegates’ meeting at the end of August, by acclamation.
In her election campaign, she focuses on the issue of security in a broader sense – from old-age provision to the war in Ukraine to climate change. Her party writes that she will also stand up for Zurich as an economic, research and innovation engine.
If she were elected, Zurich would be represented by a woman in the Council of States for the first time since 2015. The gender issue is not the focus for Sauter, but it is a partial aspect: It is right that the FDP Zurich nominates a woman again, she said in an interview with the NZZ. “Our last two representatives in the Council of States were men, now it’s a woman’s turn again.”
The Zurich SVP has not yet commented on the Council of States elections, but it can be assumed that they will stand. “From my point of view it is clear: the SVP as the largest governing party, but also the trade and self-employed entrepreneurs from the canton of Zurich must be represented again in the Council of States,” says National Councilor Gregor Rutz. In view of the economic situation, this seems more important than ever.
Gregory Rutz.
The 49-year-old is considered a possible candidate, but he himself does not comment on a candidacy. The SVP will discuss the elections within the party over the next few months, he says.
Although the SVP is the largest party in Zurich, it has not been represented in the Council of States for a long time. The last Zurich SVP Council of States was Hans Hofman (1998 to 2007).
In 2019, the SVP competed with Roger Köppel. While he was elected in the National Council elections with the highest number of votes of all candidates, he clearly fell behind in the Council of States elections. Prominent SVP members had previously failed in elections to the Council of States: Ueli Maurer in 2007, Christoph Blocher in 1987 and 2011.
It is a declared goal for the Zurich Greens to win a seat in the Zurich Council of States. Co-President Selma L’Orange Seigo says: “We will definitely stand as the third strongest force in the last national elections in the canton of Zurich.”
Daniel Leupi has been a member of the Zurich City Council since 2010.
Zurich City Councilor Daniel Leupi has now made his intentions public as the first possible Green Party candidate. “I throw my hat in the ring,” he said on September 1 in an interview with the CH-Media newspapers.
Above all, he wants to work for the climate, he is also a representative of urban Switzerland, and this is underrepresented in Bern. An important urban topic, says Leupi in the CH-Media interview, is housing. The federal government must do more to ensure that “affordable housing” is created.
Leupi has been a member of the Zurich city government since 2010 and is responsible for finances. But he is not tired of his job. If he is not elected to the Council of States, he wants to remain on the Zurich City Council.
Nothing has yet been officially decided by the Zurich Greens. At a general meeting on November 21, the party will decide who to nominate for the Council of States elections.
It can be assumed that other parties will enter the Council of States election campaign. In previous years, the center and the EPP always put forward candidates – but without serious electoral chances.
The Council of States of the Canton of Zurich
Since 1979
The first ballot is on October 22, 2023 – on the same day as the National Council elections. Experience has shown that it takes a second round before both Zurich seats in the Council of States are filled. The second ballot is scheduled for November 19th.