Christoph Blocher breaks a taboo. He considers a wild candidacy to succeed SP Federal Councilor Alain Berset to be legitimate. Blocher doesn’t like the SP’s two-party candidacy; The two candidates Beat Jans and Jon Pult have too little life experience and a poor track record. Civil parties should therefore choose a wild candidate, said the SVP thought leader in “Tele Blocher”.
Political scientist Michael Hermann explains in an interview how much power Blocher’s statements still have.
SRF News: How much influence does Christoph Blocher still have in the SVP?
Michael Hermann: Obviously he still has a lot of influence. His statement caused a lot of waves. But I doubt that he still has that much influence in the Federal Assembly. Because the SVP group has its own agenda. They have their own interests – and they are not always the same as those of Christoph Blocher.
Why does Blocher draw attention to himself with such a statement?
From Zurich’s perspective, the Jositsch case also left its mark on him. Jositsch is popular and someone who doesn’t always align with the SP. This ultimate way in which the SP called for a women’s ticket a year ago caused a lot of incomprehension on the civil side. In addition, December 13th is not just about the election of an SP candidate, but also about an overall renewal election: such statements are intended to put pressure on the SP so that it will dare less to attack Ignazio Cassis’ seat – with one Support the green candidate or a centrist candidate. For example, Mr. Pfister.
Some SVP parliamentary group members have already announced that they will not vote for the candidates on the official SP ticket. How many could now follow suit and follow Blocher’s call?
A year ago there were already many votes for Daniel Jositsch. This can easily happen again. But it also depends a bit on how the voting goes beforehand.
It could also be Roger Nordmann.
Daniel Jositsch is often mentioned as a wild candidate. Does he really have the best chance – or what other possible wild candidates are there?
Everyone assumes that Jositsch is the one who would at best be supported by the SVP. It could also be Roger Nordmann. He is a Romand. This could be strategically interesting from the SVP’s point of view, as the party will soon have to replace Guy Parmelin’s seat. The SVP has many potential candidates in German-speaking Switzerland and could therefore be interested in the SP having two seats in French-speaking Switzerland, so that the SVP could again have two German-speaking Swiss. Furthermore, supporting Jositsch would be a slap in the face of the SP. The group initially only gave him four votes. Roger Nordmann, on the other hand, did relatively well with 22 votes. If you were to vote for him, the SP would be able to say less against it than if it were Jositsch.
Wild candidacies are therefore possible. How likely is it that someone like that would be effectively elected?
There is a high probability that an official candidate will be elected. The various Federal Council parties want to secure their own seats. The best way to do this is to create as little bad blood as possible. The SVP in particular also wants to promote its own candidates. And if the dam were to be broken here and someone else was elected, then the risk is much greater that this could also happen to the SVP.
The interview was conducted by Yves Kilchör.