Centre Party president rules out run for Swiss government post

The timing of Pfister's and Amherd's resignations had fuelled speculation that Pfister was planning to stand for election to the government. Keystone-SDA

Outgoing Centre Party president Gerhard Pfister will not join the race to replace defence minister Viola Amherd in the Swiss government. In an interview with the Tagesanzeiger newspaper, he said a cabinet role would not suit him.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Pfister told the newspaper that naturally, he had asked himself whether he could do it. “And with all modesty: I would trust myself to do the job,” he said. But he had also asked himself whether the position of minister suited him. And he came to the conclusion that no, it would not.

Anyone who knows him well knows that he would not be a happy cabinet minister, he said: he loves discourse, and enjoys debating and arguing. “To do that, I need a certain amount of personal freedom,” said Pfister. He has that as party president, but would “certainly not have it anymore” if he were part of the seven-member Federal Council.

The Centre-Party minister Amherd announced her resignation from the government last Wednesday. A week and a half earlier, Pfister had announced that he would step down as party president in the summer. This double resignation made people a little nervous, said Pfister. Suddenly there were many career opportunities. As party president, however, he still wants to do his best to contribute to a “fair, transparent and peaceful race [to replace Amherd]”.

But time is pressing. Amherd’s successor is set to be elected by both chambers of parliament on March 12. According to Pfister, a decision on the ticket will probably be made at the parliamentary group meeting on February 21. At the delegates’ meeting on February 22 in Visp, the nominated candidates will be able to present themselves to members of the grassroots.

Adapted from German with DeepL/gw

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].