Despite parliament losses, Greens seek government seat
Despite their defeat in Sunday's parliamentary elections, the Greens are determined to make a run for a government seat, party president Balthasar Glättli announced on Saturday.
“The climate needs to be represented on the Federal Council,” Glättli told reporters. “The old magic formula is definitely dead,” he continued. The magic formula refers to the division of the seven cabinet seats among the four main political parties.
The Greens, who achieved their second-best ever result with a 9.8% share of the electorate in Sunday’s election, are entitled to a seat in the government, according to him.
The Greens lost five seats in the House of Representatives in last Sunday’s elections and now have 23 seats. They lost 3.4 percentage points of voter share nationally. Despite these significant losses, they remain the fifth strongest force.
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Elections 2023: Swiss parliament shifts to the right
Prior to the federal elections, some members of the Green Party had staked their claim to the seat of retiring Federal Councillor Alain Berset. But the Greens will not be targeting Social Democratic minister seats. “We’ll only be attacking one of the two Radical-Liberals seats, which are at an all-time low,” said Fabien Fivaz, vice-president of the Greens parliamentary group.
Green party candidacies must be submitted by November 3. The group will make a final decision on November 10. Elections for the federal council seats happen on December 13.
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