Swiss parliamentary elections 1947

← 1943General election of
the National Council in 19471951 →

Turnout: 72.4%

 %

30th

20th

10

0

26.20

22.96

21.16

12.08

5.14

4.42

3.18

2.93

0.94

0.99

SP

FDP

CIP

BGB

PdA

LdU

LPS

DP

EPP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1943

 % p

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

-2.40

+0.48

+0.37

+0.49

+5.14

-0.31

-0.05

-0.44

+0.53

-3.80

SP

FDP

CIP

BGB

PdA

LdU

LPS

DP

EPP

Otherwise.

Bundeshaus in Bern:
seat of the Swiss parliament

The Swiss parliamentary elections in 1947 took place on October 26, 1947. All 194 mandates of the National Council and 25 of the 44 mandates in the Council of States were to be newly awarded. This 33rd legislative period lasted four years until October 1951.

The big election winner was the newly founded Labor Party . After its predecessor parties, the KPS and FSS , had been banned in 1943, it immediately won seven seats in the National Council and a share of 5% of the vote - the best result that a communist party in Switzerland should ever achieve. Their profits were mainly at the expense of the Social Democrats . The young farmers discredited because of their attitude during the World War disappeared almost completely from the political scene. On the other hand, the FDP, which had suffered great losses in the previous decades, was able to win 5 additional seats and was thus the second election winner.

There were only minor changes in the Council of States. With Werner Christen (Nidwalden) and Rudolf Stüssi (Glarus), two non-party members were elected to the Council of States. Werner Christen, however, joined the CIP parliamentary group.

The average turnout in the 1947 National Council elections rose to 72.4%, with cantonal values ​​between 36.3% in Obwalden and 88.5% in Schaffhausen.

Election mode

National Council

The national councils have been elected according to the proportional representation system since 1919 . H. the seats are distributed in the individual cantons according to the proportion of voters on the party lists and only within the list according to the individual votes. The number of seats per canton is determined based on the number of inhabitants.

More detailed on this: National Council (Switzerland) - electoral process

Council of States

Every canton has elected two representatives for the Council of States since 1848 (former half-cantons : one representative). The elections to the Council of States are based on cantonal law. In most of the cantons, the cantons were also elected on October 25th. In the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden , Glarus , Nidwalden and Obwalden , the municipalities elected the Council of States in spring. The cantons not only had different election dates, but also terms of office of different lengths (1–4 years). In the cantons of Bern (November session ), Friborg (1 person in the May session, 1 person in the November session), Neuchâtel (on the same day with the National Council elections) and St. Gallen (in the spring session), the Council of States were elected by the cantonal parliament. In all other cantons, the Council of States was determined in ballot boxes, usually on the same day as the National Council elections. In deviation from this, the voters in the cantons of Graubünden (first Sunday in March), Ticino (last Sunday in February) and Zug (in November) voted .

More detailed on this: Council of States - electoral procedure

Results National Council

Notes on voter numbers

In the multi-person constituencies, each voter has as many votes as there are seats available in his canton (34 in the canton of Bern, 2 in the canton of Zug). He can assign these votes to any candidate on the lists that are standing for election ( panaschieren ). One vote for a candidate is also one vote for his party. If a voter has not given all of his votes to candidates, these votes go as so-called “additional votes” to the list he has elected. If the voter does not select a list, but uses a so-called «ballot slip without party name» - also known as a blank list - unused votes expire (so-called empty votes).

In order to obtain results that are comparable across cantons, the number of fictitious voters per canton and party must first be calculated. And the sum of all fictitious voters of the individual cantons is then the voters at the state level (e.g. SP rounded to 251,625 voters). An Aargau “voter” can also consist of 12 people who have only one candidate from the party concerned on their list.

The Federal Statistical Office therefore uses the term “fictitious voter” for the voter, since an effective voter can only be a partial voter. The number of voters corresponds to the number of valid ballot papers. At the canton level, the sum of all party votes (sum of the candidate votes of candidates from a party plus additional votes = empty fields in a party list) is the basis for calculation. Example: Party A gets 12,000 in canton X, party B 27,000 and party C 48,000 out of 87,000 party votes. The number of valid ballot papers is 25,000.Thus, party A has 3,448.28 (12,000: 87,000 × 25,000), party B 7,758.62 (27,000: 87,000 × 25,000) and party C 13,793.10 (48,000: 87,000 × 25,000) in this canton. fictional voters. All three parties together have a total of 25,000 voters.

The elected members of the National Council are listed in Federal Gazette No. 47 of November 27, 1947.

Parties, voters, seats

The nationwide results were as follows:

7th

48

1

8th

1

5

52

7th

44

21st

7th 48 1 8th 1 5 52 7th 44 21st 

A total of 194 seats

• PdA : 7
• SP : 48
• LSP : 1
• LdU : 8
• EVP : 1
• DP : 5
• FDP : 52
• LPS : 7
• KVP : 44
• BGB : 21

Political party	Voters	%	(+/-)	Seats	(+/-)
Social Democratic Party	251,625	26.20%	−2.40%	48	−8
Liberal Democratic Party	220,486	22.96%	+ 0.48%	52	+5
Conservative People's Party	203,202	21.16%	+ 0.37%	43	+1
Farmers, trade and citizens' parties	115,976	12.08%	+ 0.49%	21st	−1
Party of labor	49,353	5.14%	+ 5.14%	7th	+7
National Ring of Independents	42,428	4.42%	−0.31%	8th	+2
Liberal Party of Switzerland	30'492	3.18%	−0.05%	7th	−1
Democratic Party	28,096	2.93%	−0.44%	5	± 0
Evangelical People's Party	9,072	0.94%	+0.53%	1	± 0
Liberal Socialist Party (ZH)	4,626	0.48%	1 -0.55%	1	+1
Farmers' Association (SZ)	2,341	0.24%	−0.22%	0	−1
Young farmers, freelancers, workers (SG)	2,179	0.23%	−2.15%	0	± 0
Parti républicain pour les Etats-Unis d'Europe (GE) 2	136	0.01%	+ 0.01%	0	± 0
Isolated votes in single constituencies	275	0.03%	± 0.00%	0	± 0
Total	960,287	100%		194	± 0

¹ Comparison with the share of the vote of the Freiwirtschaftsbund from 1943

² in German: Republican Party for the United States of Europe

Distribution of seats in the cantons

Canton	Total	FDP		SP		CIP		BGB		LdU		LPS		PdA		Dem		EPP		LSP		JB		BV 3		UFL 4
Aargau	12	3	+1	4th	−1	3		2
Appenzell Ausserrhoden 5	2	1		1
Appenzell Innerrhoden	1					1
Basel-Country	4th	1		1	−1			1	+1							1
Basel city	8th	2	+1	2	−1	1				1		1	−1	1	+1
Bern	33	6th	+1	14th	+1	2		11														0	−2
Freiburg	7th	2	+1	1		4th	−1
Geneva	8th	3		0	−1	1	−1					2		2	+2
Glarus	2	1		1
Grisons	6th	1				3	+1									2	−1
Lucerne	9	3		1		5
Neuchâtel	5	2		2								1
Nidwalden	1					1
Obwalden	1					1
Schaffhausen	2	1		1
Schwyz	3	1		1	+1	1																		0	−1
Solothurn	7th	3		2		2
St. Gallen	13	4th		2		6th	+1			1												0	−1
Ticino	7th	3	+1	1	−1	3
Thurgau	6th	1		2		1		2
Uri	1	1
Vaud	16	6th	−2	3				1	−1			3		3	+3
Valais	7th	2	+1	0	−1	5
train	2	1	+1	0	−1	1
Zurich	31	4th		9	−3	3	+1	4th	−1	6th	+2			1	+1	2		1		1	+1					0	−1
Switzerland	194	52	+5	48	−8	44	+1	21st	−1	8th	+2	7th	−1	7th	+7	5	−1	1	± 0	1	+1	0	−3	0	−1	0	−1

³ Farmers' Association of the Canton of Schwyz

^4th«Independent-Free List». This legal split from the LdU did not take part in the National Council elections in 1947.

⁵ silent choice

Results of the Council of States elections

The elected members of the Council of States are listed in Federal Gazette No. 47 of November 27, 1947.

Distribution of seats

5

2

11

2

18th

4th

2

5 2 11 2 18th 4th 2 

A total of 44 seats

• SP : 5
• DP : 2
• FDP : 11
• LPS : 2
• KVP : 18
• BGB : 4
• Independent: 2

Political party	Elections 1947	Elections 1943
PLC	5	5
CIP	18th	19th
LPS	2	2
FDP	11	12
DP	2	2
BGB	4th	4th
independent	2	0

Elected Councils of State

Canton	1. Seat of the Council of States	2. Seat of the Council of States
Aargau	Hans Fricker , CIP (previously)	Karl Killer , SP (previously)
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	Walter Ackermann , FDP (previously)	only one seat
Appenzell Innerrhoden	Armin Locher , KVP (previously)	only one seat
Basel-Country	Paul Brodbeck , FDP (new)	only one seat
Basel city	Gustav Wenk , SP (previously)	only one seat
Bern	Henri Mouttet , FDP (previously)	Jakob Rudolf Weber , BGB (previously)
Freiburg	Maxim Quartenoud , CIP (new)	Bernard Weck , KVP (previously)
Geneva	Albert Malche , FDP (previously)	Marcel Raisin , LPS (new)
Glarus	Melchior Hefti , DP (so far)	Rudolf Stüssi , independent (new)
Grisons	Albert Lardelli , DP (so far)	Josef Vieli , KVP (previously)
Lucerne	Gotthard Egli , KVP (previously)	Franz-Karl Status , KVP (previously)
Neuchâtel	Jean-Louis Barrelet , FDP (new)	Fritz Eymann , SP (new)
Nidwalden	Werner Christen , independent (new)	only one seat
Obwalden	Ludwig von Moos , KVP (previously)	only one seat
Schaffhausen	Ernst Lieb , BGB (new)	Kurt Schoch , FDP (new)
Schwyz	Anton Gwerder , KVP (new)	Fritz Stähli , KVP (previously)
Solothurn	Paul Häfelin , FDP (previously)	Gottfried Klaus , SP (previously)
St. Gallen	Ernst Flükiger , FDP (new)	Johann Schmuki , KVP (previously)
Ticino	Antonio Antognini , KVP (previously)	Bixio Bossi , FDP (previously)
Thurgau	Paul Altwegg , FDP (previously)	Erich Ullmann , BGB (previously)
Uri	Ludwig Danioth , KVP (new)	Gustav Muheim , KVP (new)
Vaud	Gabriel Despland , FDP (so far)	Frédéric Fauquex , LPS (new)
Valais	Alfred Clausen , CIP (new)	Maurice Troillet , KVP (previously)
train	Alphons Iten , KVP (previously)	Augustin Lusser , KVP (previously)
Zurich	Emil Klöti , SP (previously)	Friedrich Traugott Wahlen , BGB (previously)

Political groups in the 33rd parliamentary term

Political groups are associations of members of parliament from one or more parties. The table below shows the status at the beginning of the legislative period.

fraction	total	National Council	Council of States
Radical Democratic Group (FDP)	63	52	11
Catholic Conservative Group	62	44	18th
social democratic group	53	48	5
Farmers, trades and citizens' factions	25th	21st	4th
Fraction of the state ring	9	9	0
Liberal Democratic Group	9	7th	2
Democratic Group	7th	5	2
Labor Party Group	7th	7th	0
without party affiliation	3	2	1

Web links

• Federal Gazette No. 47 of November 27, 1947 with the results

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Table «National Council elections: voter turnout, 1919–2015»
2. ^ Members of the National Council, pp. 555–634
3. ^ Members of the Council of States, pages 635–637
4. ^ Parliamentary groups since 1912