Cantonal Council (Appenzell Ausserrhoden)

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The Cantonal Council of Appenzell Ausserrhoden is the parliament of the Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden . It meets in the cantonal council chamber in the government building in Herisau and is the canton's legislative and supreme supervisory authority. Its 65 members are distributed over 20 constituencies in the majority procedure , with the exception of the constituency of Herisau, where the proportional representation procedure is used, elected for four years. The Cantonal Council enacts all fundamental and important provisions in the form of laws. It usually meets seven times a year.

tasks

Basic requirements for the Cantonal Council can be found in the Ausserrhoder canton constitution in Articles 71 ff.

The 65 members of the Cantonal Council are elected for a term of four years. The council exercises supreme power, subject to the rights of the people. It passes laws and oversees the canton's state organs, i.e. the government council, courts and other authorities. If it does not fall within the competence of the government council, the canton council approves or terminates international and intercantonal agreements.

The Cantonal Council advises on material, financial and investment planning as well as other fundamental planning of the government council. It decides on new one-off expenses for the same item in the amount of 1–5 percent of a control unit and new recurring expenses in the amount of 0.5–1 percent of a control unit.

The office of the Cantonal Council initially consists of the President and two Vice-Presidents; they are elected in June in a constituent meeting for a period of one year. Immediate re-election is not permitted. The council writer is also a member of the council office, which forms the management of the canton council.

The extended office includes the members of the office, the parliamentary group presidents and a member appointed by the independent cantonal councils.

Commissions

The Cantonal Council of Appenzell Ausserrhoden has the following standing commissions:

  • State Economic Commission
  • Finance Commission
  • Judicial commission

The Cantonal Council elects the members and presidents of the standing commissions at the beginning of the year in office. A council member cannot be a member of the State Economic and Finance Commission at the same time.

Parties

Since the cantonal councils are elected in 19 out of 20 constituencies by majority vote, party strength only plays a subordinate role. The seat allocation of the council since 2003 was as follows:

Distribution of seats after the elections between 2003 and 2019
Political party 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 Distribution of seats in 2019 Share of voters in percent
FDP.The Liberals (FDP) 31 26th 24 24 24
9
2
3
20th
24
7th
9 2 3 20th 24 7th 
A total of 65 seats
  • SP : 9
  • EVP : 2
  • CVP : 3
  • Independent: 20
  • FDP : 24
  • SVP : 7
Cantonal election on March 17, 2019
Turnout: 35.9%
 %
40
30th
20th
10
0
36.7
29.4
14.7
12.2
4.4
2.6
Independent
Gains and losses
compared to 2015
 % p
   4th
   2
   0
  -2
  -4
  -6
+1.2
+3.9
+3.2
-4.1
-1.6
+0.5
Independent
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP) 5 4th 5 6th 9
Swiss People's Party (SVP) 11 8th 10 12 7th
Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP) 2 3 3 5 3
Evangelical People's Party (EPP) 2 1 1 2
Independent of party 16 22nd 22nd 18th 20th

The majority procedure in most constituencies means that many politicians without a party can be elected to the cantonal council. These can, however, join a parliamentary group or found one themselves. The group strengths are currently as follows:

fraction Seats
FDP 25 seats
Grouping of the non-party 16 seats
SP 11 seats
SVP 7 seats
CVP / EVP 6 seats

Members

eligibility

Article 63 of the cantonal constitution stipulates that members of the government council and the judiciary cannot be members of the cantonal council. Members of the cantonal administration who report directly to the government council or one of its members are also not allowed to sit on the cantonal council.

Number and distribution among the constituencies

According to Art. 71, Para. 4 of the cantonal constitution, the municipalities are the constituencies. The number of inhabitants is decisive for the number of seats, with each municipality providing at least one representative. The 65 representatives are distributed as follows.

coat of arms Parish name Resident
December 31, 2018 		Seats
Buhler
 Buhler 1799 2
Gais
 Gais 3091 4th
Grub
 Grub 1008 1
Heathens
 Heathens 4162 5
Herisau
 Herisau 15,745 18th
Hundwil
 Hundwil 941 1
Lutzenberg
 Lutzenberg 1279 2
Rehetobel
 Rehetobel 1747 2
Tail
 Tail 688 1
Schönengrund
 Schönengrund 532 1
Schwellbrunn
 Schwellbrunn 1573 2
Storage
 Storage 4382 5
stone
 stone 1429 2
Depth
 Depth 6265 7th
Trogen
 Trogen 1735 2
Urnaesch
 Urnaesch 2303 3
Forest
 Forest 877 1
Waldstatt
 Waldstatt 1870 2
Walzenhausen
 Walzenhausen 1971 2
Wolf heaps
 Wolf heaps 1837 2

compensation

The members of the cantonal council receive a daily allowance of CHF 250.00 for each plenary meeting, regardless of its duration. The committee meetings and the other meetings are remunerated at CHF 125.00 for half a day and CHF 250.00 for a full day.

In addition, the following annual allowances apply:

office

  • Cantonal Council President CHF 8,000.00
  • 1st Vice President CHF 1,000.00

State Economic Commission

  • President CHF 4,000.00
  • Members CHF 3,000.00

Finance Commission

  • President CHF 4,000.00
  • Permanent members CHF 1,000.00

Judicial commission

  • President CHF 1,000.00

List of members

As of July 12, 2018

Surname Political party Constituency vintage function
Gilgian Leuzinger FDP Buhler 1961 member
Hans-Anton Vogel FDP Buhler 1957 member
Jaap van Dam non-party Gais 1962 member
Beat Landolt SP Gais 1955 President of the Cantonal Council 2018/2019
Matthias Tischhauser FDP Gais 1976 member
Silvia Lenz FDP Gais 1961 member
Susanne Lutz FDP Grub 1959 member
Alexander Rohner SVP Heathens 1954 member
Ueli Rohner non-party Heathens 1961 member
Hannes Friedli SP Heathens 1959 member
Annegret Wigger SP Heathens 1953 member
Werner Rüegg CVP Heathens 1964 member
Katrin Alder-Preisig FDP Herisau 1969 1st Vice President
Renzo Andreani SVP Herisau 1958 member
Yves Noël Balmer SP Herisau 1978 member
Markus Brönnimann FDP Herisau 1962 member
Fidel Cavelti FDP Herisau 1971 member
Peter Erny SVP Herisau 1951 member
Max Eugster SP Herisau 1961 member
Johanna Federer-Fabjan SP Herisau 1960 member
Claudia Frischknecht CVP Herisau 1981 member
Michael Fuhrer SVP Herisau 1972 member
Marcel Hartmann CVP Herisau 1956 2nd Vice President
Florian Hunziker SVP Herisau 1981 member
Annette Joos-Baumberger FDP Herisau 1959 member
Lukas Scherer FDP Herisau 1967 member
Ralf Menet SVP Herisau 1983 member
Christian Oertle SVP Herisau 1970 member
Courtship Ruprecht EPP Herisau 1984 member
Ursula Rütsche-Fässler CVP Herisau 1952 member
Margrit Müller-Schoch non-party Hundwil 1962 member
Erwin Ganz non-party Lutzenberg 1958 member
Andrea Zeller Nussbaum non-party Lutzenberg 1963 member
Michael Kunz (politician) SP Rehetobel 1966 Group leader SP
Andreas Zuberbühler non-party Rehetobel 1958 Group leader independent of the party
Ernst Pletscher non-party Tail 1963 member
Nicole Graf FDP Schönengrund 1969 member
Walter Raschle SVP Schwellbrunn 1968 member
Hansueli Reutegger SVP Schwellbrunn 1966 member
Judith Egger SP Storage 1953 member
Jean-Claude Kleiner FDP Storage 1953 member
Daniel Bühler FDP Storage 1968 member
Roland Fischer (FDP) FDP Storage 1964 member
Anna Eugster CVP Storage 1992 Group leader CVP / EPP
Heinz Mauch-Züger non-party stone 1955 member
Siegfried Dörig FDP stone 1957 member
Edgar Bishop SVP Depth 1968 member
Peter Zeller SVP Depth 1956 member
Monica Sittaro-Hartmann FDP Depth 1971 member
Urs Alder FDP Depth 1958 member
Patrick Kessler FDP Depth 1968 FDP parliamentary group leader
Oliver Schmid (politician) FDP Depth 1979 member
Walter Grob (politician) non-party Depth 1954 member
Jens Weber SP Trogen 1968 member
Niklaus Sturzenegger FDP Trogen 1947 member
Katharina Nef-Alder non-party Urnaesch 1965 member
Alfred Wirz non-party Urnaesch 1956 member
Ivan Schnyder FDP Urnaesch 1974 member
Juerg Solenthaler non-party Forest 1968 member
Monika Bodenmann-Odermatt FDP Waldstatt 1964 member
Andreas Gantenbein FDP Waldstatt 1965 member
Peter Gut (politician) non-party Walzenhausen 1958 member
Juerg Wickart non-party Walzenhausen 1957 member
Mario Wipf SVP Wolf heaps 1979 Group leader SVP
Stephan Wüthrich non-party Wolf heaps 1962 member

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Website of the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden
  2. ^ Constitution of the Canton of Ausserrhoden
  3. ↑ Art 76 of the Ausserrhoder canton constitution
  4. ^ Office of the Cantonal Council of Appenzell Ausserrhoden
  5. ↑ Commissions in the Ausserrhoder Cantonal Council
  6. ↑ Overview of the political groups
  7. ↑ Art. 63 of the Ausserrhoder canton constitution
  8. ↑ Art. 71 of the Ausserrhoder canton constitution
  9. ↑ Permanent and non-permanent resident population by year, canton, district, municipality, population type and gender (permanent resident population). In: bfs. admin.ch . Federal Statistical Office (FSO), August 31, 2019, accessed on December 22, 2019 .
  10. ↑ List of the members of the Ausserrhoder Cantonal Council