Federal Council election 1999 (replacement election)

The 1999 Federal Council election took place on March 11, 1999 in Switzerland .

Due to its dwindling electoral strength, the CVP had to fear in 1999 that after the parliamentary elections in October it would actually no longer be entitled to two seats in the Federal Council . That is why the two CVP Federal Councilors Arnold Koller and Flavio Cotti resigned in the spring, nine months before their term of office was due to expire, in order to make way for unspent forces as voting locomotives and in the hope that Parliament would not dare to Confirmation election of the state government in autumn to vote a newly elected member of the state government again.

Replacement election for Arnold Koller

For the successor to the Appenzell Federal Councilor Arnold Koller, a woman's candidacy came to the fore at an early stage. Ruth Metzler , who was completely unknown outside of Appenzell, was initially only considered an outsider because of her limited experience and lack of knowledge of the federal political scene. However, with her youth and her carefree, sympathetic demeanor, she was soon able to build a positive mood. So she was set up by the CVP alongside the St. Gallen Minister of Economics Rita Roos as an official candidate.

Ruth Metzler was elected to the Federal Council by the Swiss Federal Assembly in the fourth ballot and with a majority of eight votes (126: 118) . The votes came mainly from the right-wing party spectrum, as Ruth Metzler was considered more technocratic and less socially minded than Rita Roos. The race was still completely open in the third ballot, as both Metzler and Roos received exactly 122 votes. But Metzler may owe her election to a negligent parliamentarian who wrote "Roth" on the ballot paper in the third ballot. This slip of paper was declared invalid because it was not clear whether this MP was referring to Rita Roos or whether he had written down the fellow candidate named Jean-François Roth (CVP / JU), who was eliminated in the second ballot and therefore no longer eligible .

	1st ballot	2nd ballot	3rd ballot	4th ballot
ballot papers distributed	244	245	245	245
ballot papers received	244	245	245	244
empty / invalid	0/0	0/0	0/1	0/0
valid total	244	244	244	244
absolute more	123	123	123	123
Ruth Metzler	95	106	122	126
Rita Roos	87	113	122	118
Rosmarie Simmen	33	23	-	-
various	29	2	-	-

Alternative choice for Flavio Cotti

Joseph Deiss was elected to the Federal Council to succeed Flavio Cotti . He was one of the three official candidates for the CVP, alongside Adalbert Durrer and Remigio Ratti . In the sixth ballot, he finally narrowly prevailed against the unofficial candidate Peter Hess , with 120 to 119 votes.

	1st ballot	2nd ballot	3rd ballot	4th ballot	5th ballot	6th ballot
ballot papers distributed	245	245	245	245	244	244
ballot papers received	245	244	244	245	244	244
empty / invalid	0/0	0/0	0/1	0/0	0/0	5/0
valid total	245	244	244	245	244	239
absolute more	123	123	123	123	123	120
Joseph Deiss	20th	34	37	51	104	120
Peter Hess	54	66	82	98	117	119
Jean-François Roth	60	73	81	78	23	-
Adalbert Durrer	34	35	32	18th	-	-
Remigio Ratti	33	17th	-	-	-	-
Bruno Frick	16	11	-	-	-	-
Eugene David	14th	-	-	-	-	-
various	14th	8th	12	-	-	-

Conclusion

The CVP's ​​tactics worked insofar as the two new federal councilors were re-elected in the general election in the same year. However, four years later, in the 2003 Federal Council elections , Ruth Metzler was voted out in favor of Christoph Blocher (SVP).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} parlament.ch: Resignation of Federal Councilor Arnold Koller and Federal Councilor Flavio Cotti. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 29, 2010 ; Retrieved September 8, 2009 .