Swiss parliamentary elections 1881
The Swiss parliamentary elections in 1881 took place on October 30, 1881. There was a choice of 145 seats in the National Council (ten more than before). The elections were made according to the majority vote , with the country divided into 49 national council constituencies of different sizes . The clear election winners were the liberals (or radical liberals), who were able to win an absolute majority of the seats for the first time since 1860. The newly elected parliament met for the first time in the 12th legislative period on December 5, 1881.
Reallocation of constituencies
Based on the results of the 1880 census, a new division of the constituencies was required by law. In accordance with the principle established in 1848 that a National Council must represent 20,000 souls (residents) or a fraction of more than 10,000 souls, the total number of seats increased from 135 to 145. Of the ten additional mandates, two each were accounted for the cantons of Bern and Zurich and one each for the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden , Basel-Stadt , Geneva , Schwyz , Ticino and Vaud . Conservative circles, which had hitherto taken their systematic disadvantage from the electoral system in silence, strove for the introduction of proportional representation for the first time . Before the National Council Election Act was revised, three national councilors submitted a corresponding postulate , but were unsuccessful. Numerous petitions to the councils called for the electoral districts to be adjusted in order to give political minorities better voting opportunities. The liberals behaved opportunistically on this issue : where the desired "minority protection" would favor the conservatives, they would do everything to prevent the constituencies from being drawn again (speculating on the disagreement among the moderate liberals). In cases where they themselves benefited from a redesign, they got their concerns through easily. All in all, it helped them consolidate their position.
Conservative change requests in the cantons of Aargau , Bern, Neuchâtel , Solothurn and Wallis did not stand a chance in parliamentary deliberations. The conservative Ticino cantonal government wanted to assign the additional seat to the northern constituency, their stronghold. This immediately led to protests by the Ticino Liberals, who in turn made three proposals. The Federal Council tried to mediate and finally came up with a solution that neither really satisfied either side: the northern constituency received five seats, the southern two. The latter was greatly reduced in size, which is why it was given the derisive name Circondarietto ("Wahlkreislein"). The liberals from Friborg , who had previously been completely marginalized, called for their canton to be divided into three two-party constituencies. That way they would have had a good chance of being elected in at least one of the constituencies. After the request failed at the first attempt, it was finally accepted after a reconsideration request. Smaller territorial adjustments in the cantons of St. Gallen , Vaud and Zurich were completely undisputed . There were 49 constituencies, one more than before. With the approval of the National Council and the Council of States, the “Federal Act on Elections to the National Council” came into force on May 3, 1881.
Election campaign
After the election defeat in 1878, liberals and democrats sought to shift the balance to the left. Apart from this tactical goal, however, the electoral program lacked a common denominator; there were rather three different basic currents. In view of the consequences of the founders' crash , the first movement sought a protective tariff policy , as it had been practiced in the German Empire since 1878/79. The «protective customs officers» accused the exponents of free trade and railroad capital of neglecting the interests of the Swiss economy. This criticism was particularly targeted at representatives of the liberal center. The state intervention was called for the link to the second flow, increased social policy interventions such as health and accident insurance or state monopolies for banks and railroads. The third current also took up the state interventionist postulates, but excluded the Kulturkampf because it felt it was outdated. The liberal center, on the other hand, was entirely geared towards repelling state interventions, as they were not compatible with Manchester liberalism ; Cultural rifts prevented rapprochement with the conservatives.
During the 11th legislative period there were 17 substitute elections in 15 electoral districts due to vacancies, with the Liberals winning five more seats. In 1881 there were a total of 60 ballots (two more than three years earlier). In 40 of 49 constituencies, the elections were decided after the first ballot. All incumbent federal councilors ran for a vote of compliments that was customary in the second half of the 19th century ; that is, they stood for election as national councilors in order to have the voters confirm their legitimacy as members of the state government. The subsequent elections that became necessary were completed on January 28, 1882, which completed the National Council.
Compared to 1878, the turnout was 5.2 percent higher due to the higher mobilization. The canton of Schaffhausen had the highest value with 95.1%, due to the mandatory voting there . Participations of over 80% were otherwise only found in the cantons of Aargau and Appenzell Ausserrhoden. The elections in the canton of Schwyz met with the least interest , where only 28.3% went to the polls. The liberals achieved an overwhelming election victory by winning 18 seats and regained the absolute majority of the seats after more than two decades. The moderate liberals in particular suffered losses.
Result of the National Council elections
Overall result
Of 637,224 male eligible voters, 395,400 took part in the elections, which corresponds to a turnout of 62.1%.
The 145 seats in the National Council were distributed as follows:
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Note: An assignment of candidates to parties and political groups is only possible to a limited extent. In line with the political reality of the 19th century, one can rather speak of party currents or directions, the boundaries of which are partly fluid. The party names used are therefore an ideological assessment.
Results in the cantons
The table below shows the distribution of seats won by cantons.
| Canton | seats total |
electoral circles |
participating pation |
FL | KK | LM | DL | HE | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aargau
|
10 | 3 | 82.9% | 5 | +1 | 3 | 2 | −1 | |||||
 Appenzell Ausserrhoden
|
3 | 1 | 81.5% | 1 | 2 | +1 | |||||||
 Appenzell Innerrhoden
|
1 | 1 | 79.3% | - | −1 | 1 | +1 | ||||||
 Basel-Country
|
3 | 1 | 35.7% | 3 | |||||||||
 Basel city
|
3 | 1 | 52.0% | 2 | +1 | 1 | |||||||
 Bern
|
27 | 6th | 53.0% | 25th | +3 | 1 | +1 | 1 | −2 | ||||
 Freiburg
|
6th | 3 | 75.1% | 2 | +2 | 4th | −2 | ||||||
 Geneva
|
5 | 1 | 56.7% | 4th | +4 | 1 | −3 | ||||||
 Glarus
|
2 | 1 | 44.3% | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
 Grisons
|
5 | 3 | 71.7% | 2 | 2 | +1 | - | -1 | 1 | ||||
 Lucerne
|
7th | 4th | 67.6% | 2 | +1 | 5 | - | -1 | |||||
 Neuchâtel
|
5 | 1 | 48.5% | 5 | |||||||||
 Nidwalden
|
1 | 1 | 34.3% | 1 | |||||||||
 Obwalden
|
1 | 1 | 65.1% | 1 | |||||||||
 Schaffhausen
|
2 | 1 | 95.2% | 2 | +1 | - | -1 | ||||||
 Schwyz
|
3 | 1 | 28.2% | 3 | +1 | ||||||||
 Solothurn
|
4th | 1 | 61.8% | 4th | |||||||||
 St. Gallen
|
10 | 3 | 75.2% | - | -1 | 4th | 4th | 1 | +1 | 1 | |||
 Ticino
|
7th | 2 | 50.5% | 2 | +2 | 5 | −1 | ||||||
 Thurgau
|
5 | 1 | 70.8% | 3 | +1 | 1 | 1 | −1 | |||||
 Uri
|
1 | 1 | 50.1% | 1 | |||||||||
 Vaud
|
12 | 3 | 42.9% | 12 | +3 | - | −2 | ||||||
 Valais
|
5 | 3 | 71.2% | 5 | |||||||||
 train
|
1 | 1 | 47.3% | 1 | |||||||||
 Zurich
|
16 | 4th | 73.1% | 8th | +1 | 8th | +1 | ||||||
| Switzerland | 145 | 49 | 62.1% | 75 | +18 | 35 | −2 | 22nd | −4 | 10 | ± 0 | 3 | −2 |
Council of States
The members of the Council of States were only able to choose who were eligible to vote in eight cantons: in the cantons of Graubünden , Solothurn , Thurgau , Zug and Zurich at the ballot box, in the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden , Nidwalden and Obwalden at the Landsgemeinde . In all other cantons, the election was made indirectly by the respective cantonal parliaments .
literature
- Erich Gruner : The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 1 , first part. Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1442-9 .
- Erich Gruner: The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 1 , second part. Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1443-7 .
- Erich Gruner: The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 2 . Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1444-5 (notes).
- Erich Gruner: The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 3 . Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1445-3 (tables, graphics, maps).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, first part, p. 352.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, first part, pp. 354–356.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, first part, pp. 352–354.
- ↑ Federal law on elections to the National Council (of May 3, 1881). (PDF, 288 kB) In: Federal Gazette No. 20 of May 10, 1881. admin.ch , May 21, 2013, accessed on July 23, 2014 .
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, second part, pp. 694-697.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, p. 369.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, second part, p. 702.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, p. 485.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848–1919 , Volume 3, pp. 171–184
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, p. 356.
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