Re: Swiss elections and referenda - New Federal Councilor(s) election 7 December

[njwes]

Realistically speaking (and I know these sorts of stats are difficult to collect), how many women in Switzerland actually wear a burqa? And by that I mean a true burqa, with the total face and eye coverage, not the niqab etc.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

(and fwiw, although muslims in Switzerland are generally well integrated and not particularly religious, the French suburbs just over the border with Genevado have, to be blunt, all of the socioeconomic issues and the demographics that French banlieues as a whole are infamous for, which does have an impact on let's say, Geneva's already complex relationship with it's neighbours. It may be the most woke city in the world, but it's also the most racist city in Switzerland).

Colour me shocked that a city with an overly woke reputation is actually full of racism as well, especially one overexposed to French Discourse.

[parochial boy]

Realistically speaking (and I know these sorts of stats are difficult to collect), how many women in Switzerland actually wear a burqa? And by that I mean a true burqa, with the total face and eye coverage, not the niqab etc.

As in an Taliban Afghan style burqa? The answer is very probably zero. Estimates that even only around 20-30 women wear a niqab in the country as a whole, most of whom are converts, rather than people who were brought up Muslim.

With that in mind, niqabs are a fairly common sight in the summer in places like Geneva, Lucerne or the alps as they are very popular with tourists from the Gulf countries.

[njwes]

Realistically speaking (and I know these sorts of stats are difficult to collect), how many women in Switzerland actually wear a burqa? And by that I mean a true burqa, with the total face and eye coverage, not the niqab etc.

As in an Taliban Afghan style burqa? The answer is very probably zero. Estimates that even only around 20-30 women wear a niqab in the country as a whole, most of whom are converts, rather than people who were brought up Muslim.

With that in mind, niqabs are a fairly common sight in the summer in places like Geneva, Lucerne or the alps as they are very popular with tourists from the Gulf countries.

So if the referendum were to succeed, what exactly would be banned? I mean, how is the garb that the referendum is seeking to ban actually specifically defined?

[Tender Branson]

„Burqa ban referendum“

This is so 2014-16 ...

[parochial boy]

Realistically speaking (and I know these sorts of stats are difficult to collect), how many women in Switzerland actually wear a burqa? And by that I mean a true burqa, with the total face and eye coverage, not the niqab etc.

As in an Taliban Afghan style burqa? The answer is very probably zero. Estimates that even only around 20-30 women wear a niqab in the country as a whole, most of whom are converts, rather than people who were brought up Muslim.

With that in mind, niqabs are a fairly common sight in the summer in places like Geneva, Lucerne or the alps as they are very popular with tourists from the Gulf countries.

So if the referendum were to succeed, what exactly would be banned? I mean, how is the garb that the referendum is seeking to ban actually specifically defined?

The initiative would ban all face coverings in public, with exceptions for medical reasons, weather reasons and carnival. So going based on the experiences of cantons where it has been implemented, it would almost exclusively be used against protestors and football and hockey supporters. But otherwise, yes, this is essentially a vote that will have no impact on anyone should it pass.

„Burqa ban referendum“

This is so 2014-16 ...

6-7 years is about normal for how it takes to get from petition starting to actual vote as far as initiatives are concerned - so they're always going to be lagging as far as that is concerned. I am looking forward to a series of pointless covid related ones being voted on in 2028-30.

[Estrella]

6-7 years is about normal for how it takes to get from petition starting to actual vote as far as initiatives are concerned - so they're always going to be lagging as far as that is concerned. I am looking forward to a series of pointless covid related ones being voted on in 2028-30.

I... what?

[parochial boy]

6-7 years is about normal for how it takes to get from petition starting to actual vote as far as initiatives are concerned - so they're always going to be lagging as far as that is concerned. I am looking forward to a series of pointless covid related ones being voted on in 2028-30.

I... what?

Exeggerating somewhat, not a lot - but as an example with the multinationals:

Signature collection starts - April 2015
Signature collections deadline - 18 months later so October 2016
Initiative submitted - October 2016
Federal Council review and parliamentary submission  - September 2017
Parliamentary conclusion - June 2020
Vote - September 2020

Total time  - 5.5 years

For the face covering initiative - the signature collections started in Spring 2016, so a similar 5 year time frame.

(and of course, lets not forget the gay marriage bill, which will probably go to referendum in September or November *checks notes* 8 years after the bill was originally submitted to parliament)

You might be aware of this already, but there is a stereotype that the Swiss are slow. It's not totally inaccurate because things do not happen quickly in this country.

[Tender Branson]

6-7 years is about normal for how it takes to get from petition starting to actual vote as far as initiatives are concerned - so they're always going to be lagging as far as that is concerned. I am looking forward to a series of pointless covid related ones being voted on in 2028-30.

I... what?

Exeggerating somewhat, not a lot - but as an example with the multinationals:

Signature collection starts - April 2015
Signature collections deadline - 18 months later so October 2016
Initiative submitted - October 2016
Federal Council review and parliamentary submission  - September 2017
Parliamentary conclusion - June 2020
Vote - September 2020

Total time  - 5.5 years

For the face covering initiative - the signature collections started in Spring 2016, so a similar 5 year time frame.

(and of course, lets not forget the gay marriage bill, which will probably go to referendum in September or November *checks notes* 8 years after the bill was originally submitted to parliament)

You might be aware of this already, but there is a stereotype that the Swiss are slow. It's not totally inaccurate because things do not happen quickly in this country.

Things may not happen fast in Switzerland, but at least they happen in an efficient manner.

[parochial boy]

This weekend is also the 50th (yes 50th) anniversary of women's suffrage in Switzerland - so there has been a lot of commemoration of the event over the weekend, as well as soul searching over why it was that it took so long exactly (discussed before, but long story short whatever combo you want, of direct democracy, the particularities of the Landsgemeinde tradition, a society that was just astonishingly conservative until the social revolutions kicked off in the 1960s and so on....).

Voting rights being a theme then, the Conseil des États surprisingly passed the first stage of reducing the voting age to 16, opening the way to a constitutional amendment, and that rarest of things, an obligatory referendum.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, here is the map of the actual vote on women's suffrage as when it happened, will waste no time in pointing out that my home canton voted yes by over 90%, not our fault we share the country with barbarians.



Also, out of psephological interest - RTS came up with a list of votes since 1971 in which women actually made the difference between a vote passing of failing. They have been consistently more progressive, but not always, since day one.

Notably, women's votes prevented a restriction of abortion rights in 1978, passed the original law against racial discrimination, and stopped us privatising electricity.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Notably, women's votes prevented a restriction of abortion rights in 1978, passed the original law against racial discrimination, and stopped us privatising electricity.

??
I searched "abortion referendum Switzerland 1978" and I found a vote that was rejected 31-69. Pretty difficult that a majority of men voted in favour.

[parochial boy]

Notably, women's votes prevented a restriction of abortion rights in 1978, passed the original law against racial discrimination, and stopped us privatising electricity.

??
I searched "abortion referendum Switzerland 1978" and I found a vote that was rejected 31-69. Pretty difficult that a majority of men voted in favour.

Ha! Looks like good old RTS made a mistake. It was this one. From 1977

And even worse, I didn't read the text of the initiative - apparently women actually blocked abortion from being legalised in that particular vote (or more specifically, legalise it at the federal level, it was already legal in certain cantons by that point). In my defence, it was a long time before I was born, the article didn't go any details on what it was about, and this has long since ceased to be an issue that gets any particular attention

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Notably, women's votes prevented a restriction of abortion rights in 1978, passed the original law against racial discrimination, and stopped us privatising electricity.

??
I searched "abortion referendum Switzerland 1978" and I found a vote that was rejected 31-69. Pretty difficult that a majority of men voted in favour.

Ha! Looks like good old RTS made a mistake. It was this one. From 1977

And even worse, I didn't read the text of the initiative - apparently women actually blocked abortion from being legalised in that particular vote (or more specifically, legalise it at the federal level, it was already legal in certain cantons by that point). In my defence, it was a long time before I was born, the article didn't go any details on what it was about, and this has long since ceased to be an issue that gets any particular attention

Swiss men tried to legislate on a women's issue against the wishes of Swiss women, but the latter stopped them.

[parochial boy]

Bump to talk about the elections coming up on the 7th of March in Valais and Solothurn. It was really at these two elections 4 years ago that the first signs of green-left gains started to display themselves rather than being mere continuations of the 2015 results, so they could give an interesting indication of what Covid era developments really look like.

Valais

Current parliament (130 seats total):
PDC (including CSP Oberwallis) - 55 seats
PLR - 26 seats
UDC - 23 seats
PS (including PCS Valais Romand, and "entremont autremont") - 18 seats
Greens - 8 seats

Current government is 3 PDC, 1 PLR, 1 PS

The Valais is a bilingual canton, famous for it's mountains, ski resorts and a very, very strong local identity centred around the perception of the locals as being chauvinistic, red neck, alcoholics with a penchant for the mullet. These days, the traditionally rural canton has developed a strong industrial economy, in particular centred around chemicals and pharmaceuticals (Moderna's Covid vaccine is being manufactured in the Oberwallis town of Visp).  But with that said, in practice, the stereotype is true the canton has a long tradition of what might be called "caudillismo", as in, very strong bloc votes for notable local figures, such as long time FC Sion president and notorious big mouth Christian Constantin.

This still applies notably in the German speaking Oberwallis, which maintains an intense bloc vote and remains deeply conservative and religious, and reknowned for its indecipherable dialect. In contrast, the francophone lower Valais has gone through significant social changes in recent years, in part thanks to the immigration of Vaudois commuters to the lower Valais, meaning that it has become secularised and politically diverse and increasingly resembles the rest of Romandie in it's political outlook.

Unsurprisingly, the gap between the uniform german speaking vote and the splintered francophone vote is the source of regular tensions - in particular francophone politicans regularly complain at the disproportionate influence of the german speaking minority. German speakers make up less than one quarter of the canton's population (and declining), but have two of the five ministers and it was their bloc vote that stopped Mathias Reynard from being elected to the Conseil des États in 2019, having finished first in the Valais Romand, he won practically zero votes in Oberwallis and ended up missing out by a margin of under 1%. This cantonal (dis)unity is then further undermined by the social changes of recent years - lower VS's increasing connection to the Arc Lémanique as well as the opening of the Lötschberg basis tunnel that has turned Oberwallis towards Bern's sphere of influence, meaning that there have been increasing calls in recent years to split the canton into two half-cantons like the Basels or Appenzells.

8 candidates standing for the Conseil d'État: 3 from the PDC (including incumbents Christophe Darbellay and CSPO's Roberto Schmidt), 2 Greens (why?) and one a piece from the PLR (incumbent Frédéric Favre), UDC (Oberwalliser Franz Ruppen) and the PS (high profile Conseiller National Mathias Reynard).

The big question is whether of not the Christian Democrats hold on to the governmental majority that they have never before lost. In practice, it looks hard, as UDC Franz Ruppen be elected as he benefits from the Oberwallis (german speaking) bloc vote, and isn't an offputting clown in the way former UDC minister Oskar Freysinger was. This means a likely three way fight between Reynard, Favre and the PDC's Serge Gaudin for the remaining two seats. Favre benefits from incumbancy and Reynard is very popular in the francophone Valais, so the odds aren't great. That said, the bourgeois parties have a vocalised desire to restore an entirely bourgeois government, and francophone Reynard won't benefit from the Oberwallis vote that allowed his predecessor, the retiring Esther Waeber Kalbermatten, to be elected, so nothing is certain.

In the parliamentary race, obviously the PDC will remain largest party, the question being the degree of the losses. Although historically dominant, they have been struggling in the canton recently, losing one of their seats at the federal election and then having awful communal elections last year. The Greens fancy their chances at gains, and the newly formed Valais GLP would like to enter the parliament. Of minor note is the strange role played by the Christian Social part(ies) in the canton - the CSPO in German Speaking Valais is joined at the hip to the Christian Democrats  - sharing lists and alliances, while the Francophone PCS is equally closely linked... to the Socialists. Linguistic differences and all.

Solothurn

current parliament:
FDP - 26 seats
PS - 23 seats
CVP - 20 seats
SVP - 18 seats
Greens - 7 seats
GLP - 3 seats
BDP  - 2 seats
EVP - 1 seat

current government: 2 - PDC, 1 - PS, 1- PLR, 1 - Green.

Yes, astonishingly little SVP strength for a Swiss German canton.

Solothurn is an old industrial canton centred along the river Aare valley. In some superficial ways historically similar to Aargau, except more catholic and less turned towards Zürich. It is home to industrial centres like the watchmaking town of Grenchen as well as very conservative rural ones like the Thal district in the Jura moutain range. But, of particular relevance is the ages old rivalrly between the two largest towns, the bourgeois, merchant town of Solothurn, and the very proletarian railway town of Olten. Olten is Switzerland’s main railway hub and as such has had a huge political signficance over the course of its history.  The FDP was actually founded in the town, and it's working class history has made it a hotspot in the development of left wing movements such as the Grütli society, the Socialist party and sparking the 1918 general strike. These days, both towns are actuall solidly left wing - although Solothurn has a generally arty reputation, hosting the Journées de Soleure film festival, while Olten has a reputation, for, well, not being very attractive. Incidentally, "Je suis sur Soleure" is an old French Swiss expression that means "I am drunk", for whatever reason.

Politically, as hinted, the canton is pretty representative of the western plateau, not urban but with a number of mid sized towns, and therefore relatively less conservative than what you find further east. The UDC are still noticeably weak, being only recently formed in the canton (because catholicism), and therefore have room to grow; with the FDP being unusually strong for German Switzerland, in part down to the historical links.

There are seven candidates standing for the government: the two left wing incumbents as well as FDP incumbent Remo Ankli, meaning a four way fight for the CVP's two vacated seats between two CVP candidates, the FDP's Peter Hodel and SVP's Richard Aschberger, who would like to finally break the UDC's inability to get elected to the canton's executive. Of note in both this case, and for the parliamentary election, is the fact that the FDP and SVP do not ally with each other in Solothurn, whereas they regularly form right wing list connections elsewhere. This could change depending on how badly both parties continue their electoral declines.

In some other news. Vaud is having communal elections the same weekend, which means, noticeably, in Lausanne, Switzerland's most left wing city. The PLR would like to win a second seat in the city executive, which seems far fetched, but might be a possibility owing to the collapse of the Green-Socialist alliance. The Greens fancy their chances at replacing the PS as the dominant party in the city, which obviously soured relations between the two.

In Geneva's special election, the presumed favourite to win back a left wing government majority, Green Fabienne Fischer, managed a spectacular own goal in mentioning that she was "Not sure" about being vaccinated against Covid. Cue media outrage and a hasty backtrack on her part, but the damage is done, assuming more than about 10 people payed any attention in the first place. That said, the situation remains what it is, the two major candidates of the right are the tainted Pierre Maudet, and Cyril Aellen, generally perceived as being a bit too right wing. So, who knows, Green Liberals probably fancy themselves now.

[parochial boy]

Final rounds of referendum polling have been relsease from both Tamedia and SSR SRG/ GFS.Bern:

Burqa ban

Tamedia are at:
Yes - 59%
No - 40%

GFS.bern at:
Yes - 49%
No - 47%

So, uh, a rather unusual situation where the pollsters completely disagree. Either it will be very close... or it won't. I would expect a 'yes' vote at this point in time, to be honest, the campaign hasn't really incited passions at all. I think I've two irl conversations about the vote, and in both cases the consensus was that people weren't going to bother voting about what they mostly perceived as a non-issue, so take what you want from that.

Interesting to see that normal service has been resumed on the linguistic side, looking like a bigger No vote in Romandie now.

E-ID law

Tamedia are at:
Yes - 42%
No - 56%

GFS.bern at:
Yes - 42%
No - 54%

In practice, this has turned entirely into a campaign about the role that the private sector would have in the provision of these E-ID's. So in that respect, it was a massive backfire from the the government to try and privatise the process. Had they just kept it under public control it would have never been an issue

Free trade with Indonesia

Tamedia are at:
Yes - 52%
No - 42%

GFS.bern at:
Yes - 53%
No - 41%

Very little public interest in this one. It's almost as if people have other things on their minds or something...

[parochial boy]

Not politics related really, but the French language public broadcaster, RTS has managed to provoke a pan-francophonie storm but officially adopting "langage épicène" as part of its style guide. That is, it's coverage will no longer use the "generic masculin" or "heteronormative" language - which has provoked un-e vrai-e tollé-e (sorry) and outrage over the broadcaster's bias in choosing to use neutral language. You know, how the same people who claim that it is incomprehensible at the same time as passionately defending words like "hypokhâgne" with it's pointless circonflex and two instances of a letter that isn't even pronounced in French.

Anyway, just a point to show how grammatical gender is actually a source of controversy in languages that use it (cf "latinx"); but also interesting that it would happen in Switzerland at a time where there is an increasingly vicious reaction against écriture inclusive going on over the border in France. With that in mind, the Swiss have always been more relaxed about how rigid use of language needs to be than the French are.

I'm actually not particularly bothered about it at all. But it has the advantage of annoying people who annoy me. And it makes a nice change to see the French media getting pissed off at the Swiss for actually being too progressive for once.

In other news, the UDC have been going off on one about Covid - we now live in a Socialist Dictatorship apparently (source - Christoph Blocher). A point deemed mad enough that even Guy Parmelin (the UDC federal councillor and president this year; and also possibly the least populist member of a right-wing populist party anywhere in the world) had to criticise his own party for their excesses. Then we got the spectacle of death threats being sent to two of the female federal councillors that turned out to originate from a facebook group that had a certain Andreas Glarner as an admin. Glarner being someone I have mentioned before, never far from a racist statement, or three, he claimed to have never heard of the group. That he was an admin of.

Anyway, on to Super Sunday. I'm going skiing, so expect that by the the time I'm get home I will be legally obliged to simultaneously wear and mask and show my face at all times-

[Tender Branson]

The facial veil ban seems to be approved with 54% by Swiss voters, after 16 cantons are counted.

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss--burka-ban--vote-too-close-to-call/46420534

[Tender Branson]

Results from all 3 referendums today:

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/vote-results--march-7--2021/46380436

# face veil ban will be approved (I wonder how many Swiss voted for it because they cannot stand wearing masks any longer, not because of Muslims ...)

# electronic ID will be soundly rejected (out of big data privacy concerns)

# free-trade agreement with Indonesia will be slightly approved (there are concerns about palm oil imports and the resulting destruction of biosphere in Indonesia)

[parochial boy]

The face covering ban looks like it will pass about 51-49%, and, rather unusually down to Romandie actually supporting it by more than the Swiss Germans. The map is absolutely mad at the moment - the largest 'Yes' vote in the country is in the Jura, which is usually the most left-wing canton alongside Geneva including on these sorts of questions; whereas it got rejected in Appenzell Ausserrhoden, which is usually one of the most hysterically conservative cantons. So I suspect the real reason this got passed is the overbearing influence of France on the mindsets of the French Swiss.

Still, barely passing when the minaret ban passed comfortably, despite the latter being a much less justifiable proposition probably does show how much mindsets in the country have moved on in the last 12 years.

The E-ID law going down in flames is not out of privacy concerns - it was a rejection of the E-ID's being managed by the private sector. So something of a rejection of neoliberalism that stretched across the linguistic divide.

Full results by commune available at https://www.predikon.ch/ and a map by canton here

Will write something about the cantonal votes and elections later - but Geneva has taking a step towards having a left wing majority for the second time in its history.

[CumbrianLefty]

The face covering ban looks like it will pass about 51-49%, and, rather unusually down to Romandie actually supporting it by more than the Swiss Germans. The map is absolutely mad at the moment - the largest 'Yes' vote in the country is in the Jura, which is usually the most left-wing canton alongside Geneva including on these sorts of questions; whereas it got rejected in Appenzell Ausserrhoden, which is usually one of the most hysterically conservative cantons. So I suspect the real reason this got passed is the overbearing influence of France on the mindsets of the French Swiss.

Still, barely passing when the minaret ban passed comfortably, despite the latter being a much less justifiable proposition probably does show how much mindsets in the country have moved on in the last 12 years.

The E-ID law going down in flames is not out of privacy concerns - it was a rejection of the E-ID's being managed by the private sector. So something of a rejection of neoliberalism that stretched across the linguistic divide.

Full results by commune available at https://www.predikon.ch/ and a map by canton here

Will write something about the cantonal votes and elections later - but Geneva has taking a step towards having a left wing majority for the second time in its history.

Are there any attempts to get that reversed?

[beesley]

Results from all 3 referendums today:

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/vote-results--march-7--2021/46380436

# face veil ban will be approved (I wonder how many Swiss voted for it because they cannot stand wearing masks any longer, not because of Muslims ...)

# electronic ID will be soundly rejected (out of big data privacy concerns)

# free-trade agreement with Indonesia will be slightly approved (there are concerns about palm oil imports and the resulting destruction of biosphere in Indonesia)

Thanks for sharing. What a useful website!

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

A good day for democrats, human rights activists, and pure reason; and a devastating day for Islamists, the Antifa, and other fascist movements. The results proved once more that the spiral of silence does exist and that the Twitter Antifa, contrary to their conviction, is not representative whatsoever of the majority of mankind. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
I envy our neighboring country for their genuine democracy we've never had and probably never will... 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[parochial boy]

Generally speaking, I'm not convinnced by the logic that if men are forcing women to cover their faces, we should be punishing the women themselves for it. Paradoxically, that seems similar to the Saudi Arabian attitude towards rape.

Are there any attempts to get that reversed?

Not at the moment. It would require a whole constitutional change, which isn't really anyone's priority at the moment. Swiss Muslims are on the whole not very religious (per the official data, they are less religious than Swiss Christians, on average) and for the most part and particularly interested in building any.

Long post on the local results:

Overall, stability seeming to be the order of the day:

Valais
Conseil d'État results:
Roberto SCHMIDT (PDC) 62'031 votes
Christophe DARBELLAY (PDC) 56'331
Mathias REYNARD (PS) 51'539
Frédéric FAVRE (PLR)   50'199
Serge GAUDIN (PDC) 45'452
-----
Franz RUPPEN (UDC) 44'734
Brigitte WOLF (Green) 31'567
Magali DI MARCO (Green) 30'721

131'408 votes total, so no-one reaches an absolute majority and no-one is elected in the first round. Looks like the second round will be a competition between the UDC and PDC candidates as to whether the former make a return or the latter lose their governing majority for the first time ever. Dissapointing for the UDC as Ruppen was expected to make the top 5 easily.

Grand Conseil:
PDC (with CSPO) - 48 seats (-7)
PLR - 27 seats (+1)
UDC-  22 seats (-1)
PS and friends - 20 seats (+2)
Greens - 13 seats (+5)

Percentages also to be confirmed.

An all time low for the Christian Democrats and an all time high for the left, who actually make even bigger gains than the 6 extra seats they won in the 2017 election that marked the very first sign of the green wave.

The left's gains all happening in the francophone Valais, continuing its rapprochement with the rest of French Switzerland.

Solothurn
Regierungsrat:
Remo Ankli (FDP) - 50'010 votes (elected)
Brigit Wyss (Greens) - 47'537 votes (elected)
Susanne Schaffner (PS) - 42'733 votes (elected)
Sandra Koly Altermatt (CVP) - 37'506
Thomas Müller (CVP) - 32'536
----
Peter Hodel -32'350 (FDP)
Richard Aschberger - 25'453 (FDP)

38'980 set as the majority, so there will be a CVP v FDP battle for the two remaining seats

Kantonsrat:
FDP - 22 seats (-4)
SVP - 21 seats (+3)
CVP -  20 seats (nc/-2 including the BDP's two seats)
SP - 20 seats (-3)
Greens - 10 seats (+3)
GLP - 6 seats (+3)
EVP - 1 seat (nc)

More pain for the liberals, decent for the SVP, unchanged continuation of trends regarding the left and the Green Liberals.

Will update percentages once they come out

Geneva
Fabienne Fischer (Greens) - 38'626 votes
Pierre Maudet (independent) - 29'275
Cyril Aellen (PLR) - 20'129
Yves Nidegger (UDC) - 17'045
Michael Matter (PVL) - 12'322
Morten Gisselbaek (Labour) - 6'407

Majority set at 64'734 so a second round required, most likely Maudet v Fischer. The PLR are standing down and the UDC haven't decided whether to keep Nidegger in. Overall, another disaster for the liberals, but schocking strong result for Maudet - a little bit of name recognition, plus (sigh) his recently developed "bad boy image.

Communal elections
Lots going on, but in the main decentish for the left. Despite the Green-Socialist break up, Lausanne looks like it will keep its 6-1 left wing majority: 3 PS, 2 Greens, 1 POP vs 1 PLR (pending a second round).
In the communal council, the Greens and Ensemble à Gauche surge, meaning the left now hold a collective 66 of the 100 seats (from 61 previously). Gains coming from the UDC, who due to a split see their delegation halved from 12 to 7 - while the PLR and the PVL hold steady.

Yverdon-les-Bains, Vaud's fairly down market (you know, relatively, this is still Switzerland) industrial second town, looks set to re-elect a left wing majority government, at the expense of the PLR, who lose one of their seats. The PS and Greens also win 53 out of 100 seats in the communal council, handing the left a majority for the first time since 1977 - coming at the expense of UDC losses.

Vevey also gets a left majority, but sticks out by making the radical left "Décroissances alternatives" the largest party, with Yvan Luccarini of the same party finishing first place in the race for the municipal government - raising the possibility that the home of Nestlé and Charlie Chaplin becomes one of a handful of towns in the country to be led by a Communist. Also 12 seats in the communal council going to "En Avant Vevey", a slightly unusual group who appear to be a populist right wing party for immigrants who hate other immigrants.

Aacross the border - Fribourg gets a 4-1 split in favour of the left (2 Socialist, 1 Green, 1 PCS and 1 PDC), the Greens gaining a seat with, again, the PLR getting kicked out.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Graubunden in opposition wtf



Why is Francophone Switzerland anti-free trade while German and Italian Switzerland pro?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Is there a constitutional check on referendums in Switzerland? Like, say there was a seriously egregious attack on a minority's civil liberties via referendum, can they appeal to courts, or is the people's decision final?