Federal Council election 1979

On December 5, 1979, the general election of the Federal Council took place in Switzerland . The two chambers of the newly elected parliament, the United Federal Assembly , elected the Swiss government, the Bundesrat , for the period from 1980 to 1983. The seats were ordered individually in the order of the age of office of the seat holder. Due to the resignation of Rudolf Gnägi , a replacement election took place.

elections

First choice (seat of Kurt Furgler, CVP)

Kurt Furgler

Federal Councilor Kurt Furgler ( CVP ) had been head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA) since the beginning of 1983 . As the oldest member of the Federal Council, he was the first to stand for election.

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	246
ballot papers received	246
empty / invalid	25/0
valid total	221
absolute more	111
Kurt Furgler	206
Various	15th

Second choice (seat of Willi Ritschard, SP)

Willi Ritschard

Willi Ritschard ( SP ) was elected to the Federal Council in 1973. He was first head of the transport and energy department and moved to the finance department in 1980 .

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	244
ballot papers received	243
empty / invalid	24/0
valid total	219
absolute more	110
Willi Ritschard	212
Various	7th

Third choice (seat of Hans Hürlimann, CVP)

Hans Hürlimann

Hans Hürlimann ( CVP ) was elected to the Federal Council on December 5, 1973 to succeed Roger Bonvin . He headed the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) .

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	246
ballot papers received	246
empty / invalid	18/1
valid total	227
absolute more	114
Hans Hürlimann	214
Various	13

Fourth election (seat of Georges-André Chevallaz, FDP)

Georges-André Chevallaz

Georges-André Chevallaz ( FDP ) was elected to the Federal Council in 1973 as a non-official candidate of the FDP parliamentary group . He took over the finance and customs department . After his re-election at the beginning of 1980 he succeeded the resigned Rudolf Gnägi as head of the Federal Military Department (EMD) .

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	244
ballot papers received	244
empty / invalid	40/1
valid total	203
absolute more	102
Georges-André Chevallaz	170
Various	33

Fifth choice (seat of Fritz Honegger, FDP)

Fritz Honegger

Fritz Honegger ( FDP ) was elected to the Federal Council in 1977 as Ernst Brugger's successor . He was head of the Department of Economics .

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	243
ballot papers received	242
empty / invalid	22/1
valid total	219
absolute more	110
Fritz Honegger	198
Various	21st

Sixth choice (seat of Pierre Aubert, SP)

Pierre Aubert

Pierre Aubert ( SP ) was elected to the Federal Council in 1977 and has since headed the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) . His bad result was, among other things, a consequence of the fact that he was controversial in his own party. The then National Councilor René Felber was nominated in 1977 by the Neuchâtel SP. The Federal Palace fraction but pulled his Senate before Aubert. The Neuchâtel State Councilor René Meylan was popular in the middle class.

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	246
ballot papers received	246
empty / invalid	37/0
valid total	209
absolute more	105
Pierre Aubert	124
René Meylan (SP)	50
René Felber (SP)	17th
Various	18th

Seventh election (replacement election of Rudolf Gnägi, SVP)

Rudolf Gnägi, resigning Federal Councilor (1979)

Leon Schlumpf, newly elected Federal Councilor

Rudolf Gnägi ( SVP ) was elected to the Federal Council on December 8, 1965. He took over the transport and energy department . In 1968 he moved to the military department .

The Bernese SVP ( BGB until 1971 ) has been represented in the Federal Council without interruption since Rudolf Minger's election in 1929. After Gnägi's resignation, however, there was no favorite in the party. Questioning came National Councils Fritz Hofmann and Walther Hofer and the governing councils Bernhard Müller and Werner Martignoni , who has been the House of Representatives election in 1979 was also a member of the National Council. However, Hofer did not run. In the end, Martignoni prevailed against Müller within the cantonal party. The SVP Bern was competing from other cantons. The Thurgau National and Government Councilor Hanspeter Fischer considered a candidacy, but ultimately renounced it. The Graubünden SVP, on the other hand, competed with its Council of States Leon Schlumpf . In contrast to Martignoni, who came from the conservative BGB, Schlumpf was a representative of the more progressive Democratic Party . These two political currents merged to form the SVP in 1971 and Schlumpf played a key role in this. Since both candidates received the same number of votes in the parliamentary group, a double proposal was submitted to the Federal Assembly . Schlumpf clearly prevailed in parliament.

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	246
ballot papers received	246
empty / invalid	4/1
valid total	241
absolute more	121
Leon Smurf	159
Werner Martignoni (SVP)	72
Various	10

Election of the Federal Chancellor

Karl Huber (1979)

The incumbent Chancellor Karl Huber ( CVP ) ran for re-election and was confirmed in office with 165 votes. Vice Chancellor Walter Buser (SP), who will be elected as his successor a year and a half later , also received a few votes .

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	217
ballot papers received	215
empty / invalid	25/0
valid total	190
absolute more	96
Karl Huber	165
Walter Buser ( SP )	17th
Various	8th

Election of the Federal President

Georges-André Chevallaz was elected Federal President for 1980 with 183 votes .

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	244
ballot papers received	244
empty / invalid	22/6
valid total	216
absolute more	109
Georges-André Chevallaz	183
Various	33

Election of the Vice President

Kurt Furgler was elected Vice President with 156 votes.

	1st ballot
ballot papers distributed	233
ballot papers received	231
empty / invalid	32/5
valid total	194
absolute more	98
Kurt Furgler	156
Various	38

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The numbers in the entire article follow: Parliamentary services: results of the elections for the Federal Council, the Federal Chancellor and the General. (PDF) p. 18, p. 48 and p. 64 , accessed on February 29, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Sacha Zala ; Pierre-André Stauffer: Pierre Aubert . In: Urs Altermatt (Ed.): Das Bundesratslexikon . NZZ Libro , Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03810-218-2 , p. 550–556, here p. 551 .
3. ↑ Frank A. Meyer : There is a large selection of candidates, but the SP cannot decide on its own . In: Schweizer Illustrierte . October 3, 1977, p. 23 f .
4. ↑ Leon Schlumpf . In: Urs Altermatt (Ed.): Das Bundesratslexikon . NZZ Libro , Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03810-218-2 , p. 557-562, here p. 558 f .