New Radicals’ president takes centre stage
A liberal politician, who once aspired to be an actress, has become the first female president of Switzerland's Radical Party.
Christiane Langenberger, a senator from canton Vaud, will lead the party into the country’s October elections.
The centre-right Radical Party is one of nine parties currently represented in the Swiss government.
The presidential race was decided at the party conference in Lucerne on Saturday.
Langenberger polled a total of 181 votes, beating her rival, Trix Heberlein, who won 164 votes.
The 61-year-old senator from French-speaking Switzerland has been the Radicals’ vice-president since 1999.
She was also the acting president after the shock resignation of her predecessor, Gerold Bührer, in November last year.
On winning the top job, Langenberger said she was moved by the result as she hadn’t expected success.
The mother-of-two, who lives in Romanel-sur-Morges, was born and raised in German-speaking Bern and is said to be perfectly bilingual.
Dark horse?
Langenberger was not alone in finding her victory a complete surprise.
The local media had earlier hailed German-speaker Heberlein – a Zurich-based parliamentarian – as the favourite to win, in view of the support the party enjoys in German-speaking Switzerland.
Langenberger was thought to have been at a disadvantage for being based in the French-speaking part of the country. But the party faithful clearly thought otherwise and voted in her favour.
The party announced a leadership contest following the shock resignation of former leader Bührer in November.
After just 18 months on the job, Bührer was reportedly asked by the party to step down because of his link to the troubled insurance company, Swiss Life.
Bührer was a board member of the insurance giant, which admitted setting up a secretive investment vehicle that generated millions for its top executives.
While there was no conclusive proof that Bührer had any knowledge of the vehicle, the Radicals decided that he was not up to the job of leading the party to the polls in 2003.
Whistle-stop contest
Both Langenberger and Heberlein were last-minute contenders for the post, after their names were put forward by their respective cantonal party branches relatively late in the day.
The party only announced its acceptance of the two nominations in mid-December and set January 11 as the date for the presidential poll.
Langenberger has represented canton Vaud as a senator since 1999, and her diverse interests include education, culture, business and women’s rights.
She also holds leading positions in a number of organisations, such as the presidency of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.
The new president will have her work cut out, with Switzerland’s general election just nine months away.
swissinfo, Faryal Mirza
The Radicals called a presidential election after the resignation of former leader,Gerold Bührer,in November 2002.
The two main candidates for the presidency were Christiane Langenberger and Trix Heberlein.
Vaud-based Senator Langenberger polled 17 more votes than her rival, a Zurich-based parliamentarian.
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