Why Daniel Jositsch fought alone

Which is why Daniel Jositsch, despite all his merits, failed to achieve the highest goal of Swiss politics.

Daniel Jositsch says: “If I had been silent, I would not have become a member of the Federal Council.”

Gaëtan Bally / Keystone

As far as can be humanly judged, Daniel Jositsch will never again become a member of the Federal Council. This is not an unusual fate, it happens to most politicians in Switzerland. But Jositsch made more noise in his fight for a seat in the state government than is usual in local politics. What remains is the image of someone fighting against windmills. A clever strategist entered a battle he couldn’t win.

Why did he do that? And how is it that not a single comrade came to his aid?

Actually, Jositsch should have hero status in the SP. In the noughties, when there seemed to be no herb against the advance of the SVP at the polls, he appeared out of nowhere as a law-and-order politician and right-wing social democrat – and one of the few, Christoph Blocher in the SRF – «Arena» can stand up to it. Jositsch is eloquent and aggressive. At that time it was still significantly rounder than it is today; the somewhat bulky appearance does not harm him in the war of words with SVP warhorses.

Until 2007, the school board in his home town of Stäfa was Jositsch’s only office. But its notoriety is increasing. The criminal law professor is a grateful figure for the media. He is always available and good for a quote when it comes to sensational processes. The “Zürichsee-Zeitung” wrote in 2007: “The criminal law professor from Stäfa is currently the most sought-after expert for topics and problems of all kinds in German-speaking Switzerland. This man, it’s an open secret, aims high.”

The newcomer offends

This is viewed with mixed feelings within the party. The reason for the article in the “Zürichsee-Zeitung” is that Jositsch was invited to a podium. Jositsch, who was running as a newcomer to the cantonal council at the time, was preferred to the previous ones from the SP. This causes friction among the comrades.

Jositsch was simply more interesting for the “Tages-Anzeiger” as the organizer of the podium.

At that time, the image of the strategist with clear career intentions was created. Court correspondents say that Jositsch appeared at trials as if by chance when Tele Züri asked for a statement. That was “complete nonsense,” says Jositsch today. He was asked to be a professor of criminal law, in particular by SRF for the Swissair process, and later often by Tele Züri. “It quickly became the image: ‘He pushes himself in front of every camera.'”

Jositsch grew up as a pragmatic social democrat and advocate of the rule of law, who sometimes showed toughness, be it against delinquent young people, speeders or violent offenders. He has a profile that one would associate with a middle-class politician: law studies at the University of St. Gallen and a political career that began in a community on the right bank of the lake. Jositsch is a lieutenant colonel in the military and a member of the conservative Bodania student fraternity, where he is known as “Malz”. That goes back to the early days at the university, he says, and has no political background.

Jositsch was elected to the cantonal council in 2007 with a record number of unanimous votes. Barely six months later he made it into the National Council.

In 2015 he became a member of the Zurich Council of States, the first Social Democrat in three decades. This is possible because Jositsch can also be chosen by many commoners. And for staunch Social Democrats, when in doubt, he is the lesser evil on the ballot paper. Also because he represents classic social democratic positions on many issues. He manages re-election in 2019 without any problems.

He becomes a fixture in federal Bern. And thus a natural candidate should a Federal Council seat become vacant. Until the beginning of last week it became clear that he would be denied an application because the SP leadership wanted a ticket for women only.

Jositsch defends himself loudly. Although he knows about the laws of Federal Council elections. They say that whoever is too offensive will fail. He says he hasn’t made any strategic decisions about this. “It’s not true that I’m a strategist. And if I were one: If I had kept silent, I would not have become a member of the Federal Council either.”

Jositsch ultimately demanded the quota

It is ironic that Jositsch stumbles over the issue of women’s representation. In 2000, a letter to the editor appeared in the “Tages-Anzeiger” in which he called for the 50 percent quota as an ultimate. Today he says that this discussion was different in the early 2000s. Women were really at a disadvantage.

Today he says: “Fixed quotas lead to hardship. You get in your own way.” That’s why he resisted when it came to the Federal Council candidacy. “As a law professor, I cannot accept without comment that someone is excluded for biological reasons. How am I supposed to explain that to my students?”

But why is no one from the party helping him in his fight?

If you ask SP politicians about it, they refer to the official statements by the party leadership. Only the former National Councilor Chantal Galladé, his former partner, who has turned her back on the SP and switched to the GLP, has spoken publicly. Compared to the “NZZ am Sonntag” she speaks of an “enormously talented politician” who is “burned”.

Galladé does not believe that Jositsch’s image will be damaged. He met with a lot of approval from the population, but this might be different within the “SP Bubble”, she says on request. “He is not influenced by voices that sometimes see him as selfish.”

It is almost certain that Jositsch will be confirmed as a member of the Zurich Council of States next spring. But how popular is Jositsch within the party? Galladé says he makes policy, is decent, and is accessible to everyone. “But he’s not the kind of person who does everything for his popularity, he doesn’t claim that everyone finds him good and funny.”

Jositsch himself says he is currently receiving many letters from people in the party. He is not surprised that nobody in the SP speaks out publicly. “As soon as you expose yourself, you put yourself under a certain amount of pressure. I wouldn’t comment either.”

Nevertheless, the fact that the comrades refrain from putting Jositsch on the ticket also has to do with the way he politicizes. But not because you would reject him. But because his profile means danger.

The “right” social democrat is a promising scheme. It brings friction with the left wing of the party, but Jositsch manages not to let it escalate. The fact that he sees political disputes in a distance should help him.

The position has the advantage that one can orientate oneself to the centre-right. Jositsch says: “I like to move in different milieus, I don’t live in a bubble. I know how an entrepreneur thinks and I can understand the positions of people who are politically different from me.”

Jositsch can do it with many outside the SP, including in parliament. The party leadership must have calculated that he could be elected, even though he is a man.

In the end, his profile, with which he has been so successful so far, stands in his way.

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