Political parties jostle for Swiss cabinet seats after green gains
Following huge gains in the general election, Switzerland’s two green parties are lining themselves up for seats in the seven-member executive cabinet, according to the Sunday newspapers.
The Green and Liberal Green parties have found an unlikely ally in Christoph Blocher, a powerhouse figure in the right-wing People’s Party, says the SonntagszeitungExternal link. Blocher is advocating a seat at the high table for both parties, to replace one member of each the Social Democrats and Radical parties.
This would leave the People’s Party as the only political party with two cabinet seats. Such a plan would shake-up the “magic formula” that determines that the three most popular parties get two seats each, with one seat awarded to the next largest party (according to parliamentary seats).
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Social Democrat leader Christian Levrat has argued to the SonntagsBlickExternal link that the government should be expanded to nine members to allow participation from the green parties without seeing other parties lose out.
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Some newspapers are reporting that the Greens are targeting Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis’s seat in cabinet. According to these articles, the Radical party member appears particularly vulnerable when parliament gets together later this year to decide on the composition of the new cabinet.
But this might upset voters in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland as Cassis is the sole representative from this area in cabinet.
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Regula Rytz, Green Party president, on whether her party’s historic gains in the parliamentary elections should result in a government seat.
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Swiss elections: Landslide Green gains tip parliament to the left
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Green parties have made major gains at the expense of parties to the right and the left in elections to the Swiss parliament.
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Green, female and progressive were the headlines from this election. What does this historic vote mean for Switzerland going forward?
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Everything you need to know about the results of the Swiss parliamentary elections 2019. Explore results by party, region and historical trends.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.