The Swiss People’s Party is not coveting a third seat in government

The SVP is not aiming for a third seat on the Federal Council Keystone-SDA

A third seat on the seven-member Federal Council is not on the right-wing party's radar for the 2027 federal elections.

“We are sticking to the current magic formula,” party campaign director Manuel Strupler said in an interview on Saturday. He did not give a target share of the electorate the party was aiming for.

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“It’s clear that the party wants to make progress,” said the parliamentarian from Thurgau in an interview with Schweiz am Wochenende. However, an additional seat on the governing Federal Council is not on the agenda.

According to an election poll published in October, a 30% vote share result is within the party’s grasp. If the elections had been held last autumn, the Swiss People’s Party would have achieved an electoral share of 30.4%, an increase of 2.5 percentage points. These are the findings of an electoral barometer published by the Sotomo research centre on behalf of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, Swissinfo’s parent company. The online survey was based on data from around 32,000 voters between August 25 and September 11, 2025. According to the centre, the Social Democrats and the Greens would also have captured more vote share.

Since 1943, the four parties with the largest number of voters have been represented in the federal government. The so-called ‘magic formula’, introduced in 1959, determines the distribution of seats. At present, the Swiss People’s Party, Social Democrats and Radical-Liberals each have two ministers each, while the Centre Party has one.

Adapted from French by DeepL/ac

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