Latin America shines at the Youth Parliament of the Swiss Abroad

Young people aged between 15 and 35 can become members of YPSA. Here, young Swiss Abroad visit Bern during a camp organised by OSA. Auslandschweizerorganisation ASO

Elections were held from November 17 to December 14 to renew the YPSA committee for the 2026-2028 legislature. While the number of candidates broke a new record, participation is clearly down. Central and South America will be strongly represented.

Latin America took the lion’s share of the latest elections to the Youth Parliament of the Swiss Abroad (YPSA). Five of the 13 members of the committee live on the South American continent

“The spirit of Switzerland is alive and well in South America!” says Max Groenveld, the outgoing president.

Europe, traditionally well represented, also has five members, followed by North America (with two members based in the United States) and Asia (with one member in China).

In the previous elections, Africa entered the YPSA committee for the first time in the history of the young organisation, which was founded in 2015. This year, one of the candidates was from South Africa, but he did not receive enough votes. On the other hand, Asia is regaining a place on the committee, which it did not have the last legislature.

With seven young women and six young men, the composition of the new committee is very gender-balanced. Among its members, only three were already part of the outgoing committee.

What is the Youth Parliament of the Swiss Abroad?

YPSA was founded at the Congress of the Swiss Abroad in Geneva in August 2015.

According to its statutes, YPSA is an association that promotes the interests of young Swiss people abroad. Its aim is to support their political education and encourage their participation in political processes and social life. It is not affiliated to any political party.

The committee is made up of one guaranteed seat for each committee member resident in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. An additional seat is guaranteed for a committee member resident in Switzerland. If no candidates from a given region or from Switzerland stand for election, the seat in question is no longer guaranteed and is made available to other candidates.

Anyone who is a member of the YPSA community on FacebookExternal link, between the ages of 15 and 35, and who lives abroad or has lived abroad for at least ten years may vote. Mandates last for two consecutive years and there is no limit to the number of mandates.

Candidacies up, participation down

Never before have so many young people stood for election: 22 candidates were put forward for 13 places. All continents were represented.

It is a positive development that contrasts with the low turnout. Indeed, only 59 votes were counted, while there were 154 in the election for the 2024-2026 legislature.

“I find it regrettable that we were not able to activate as many voters as last time,” says Groenveld. According to him, several factors can explain the low turnout: the time frame to vote was much shorter and the voting system has changed and the rules have become tougher. Thus, out of 72 votes received, only 59 were validated.

New voting system

“The Youth Parliament of Swiss Abroad (YPSA) elections were conducted using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, a proportional method designed to ensure fair representation of diverse voices,” states the YPSA on its website.

Dutch-Swiss Max Groenveld was YPSA’s chairman for the 2024-2026 term. Auslandschweizerorganisation ASO

In a document made available online, voters could assign their votes in order of preference to five candidates. Candidates who reach the required quota are elected, and any surplus votes are redistributed to remaining candidates according to voter preferences. If no candidate meets the quota, the one with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are transferred. This process continues until all seats are filled, making sure that nearly every ballot contributes to the final outcome.

In the end it took 17 rounds to allocate the 13 places available to the committee.

Groenveld is aware that the method is more complicated, but he also considers it more representative. “This is also one of the advantages of a small structure like YPSA, you can experiment with new things,” he says. He is convinced that this system has a future even on the scale of entire countries.

At its first meeting in January 2026, the YPSA Committee will elect from among its 13 members the two persons who will assume the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship. All 13 members may apply.

The future of YPSA

Groenveld did not stand for re-election. He believes that he has moved the organisation forward to the extent of his means.

“I am very satisfied with our growth on different channels over the past two years: we have a Whatsapp group, the connection between us is better and the Parliament of the Young Swiss Abroad has become a more concrete entity,” says the Dutch-Swiss citizen.

However, the organisation remains modest in terms of membership and visibility. For its outgoing president, it also has to face major obstacles: “We are young people, who work on a voluntary basis, spread over different time zones and who never see each other in real life.”

However, Groenveld is of the opinion that the structure will become more important as the community of Swiss Abroad grows.

Edited by Pauline Turuban. Adapted from French by DeepL/ac