Upper Valais electoral district
The National Council constituency of Upper Valais was a constituency in elections to the Swiss National Council . It existed from 1848 to 1919 (introduction of today's proportional voting rights ) and covered the eastern part of the canton of Valais .
Electoral process
This was a plural constituency. This means that although several seats had to be allocated, the majority voting system was used. In the sense of the Romansh majority election , a candidate needed an absolute majority of the votes in order to be elected. Several ballots may have been necessary to distribute all seats. Each voter had as many votes as there were seats to be allocated.
Name and number of seats
Oberwallis is an unofficial geographical name. In official use, consecutive numbering applied across the whole of Switzerland, arranged according to the order of the cantons in the Swiss Federal Constitution, was common . Due to the changing number over the years, some constituencies were given a new number several times. Upper Valais was numbered 45 from 1851 (first application of a uniform federal law), number 43 from 1863, number 44 from 1872, number 45 from 1881, number 48 from 1890 and number 46 from 1902.
The Upper Valais initially had 1 seat, from 1863 there were 2 seats, and from 1902 4 seats.
expansion
The area of the constituency was made binding for the first time on December 21, 1850 with the "Federal Act on the Election of Members of the National Council", whereby constituency I, created in 1848 by the cantonal government of Valais, was taken over unchanged. The constituency of Upper Valais comprised:
- the Brig district
- the Goms district
- the district of Leuk (excluding the communities of Inden , Leuk , Leukerbad , Salgesch and Varen )
- the Eastern Raron district
- the district Westlich Raron
- the Visp district
The area was enlarged with the “Supplementary Law on Elections to the National Council” of July 23, 1863. The remaining communities in the Leuk district and the Sierre district , which had previously belonged to the Central Valais constituency , became part of the Upper Valais constituency. This now comprised:
- the Brig district
- the Goms district
- the district of Leuk
- the Eastern Raron district
- the district of Sierre
- the district Westlich Raron
- the Visp district
The “Federal Law on the National Council constituencies” of June 4, 1902 resulted in the dissolution of the constituency of Central Valais and its amalgamation with Upper Valais. The constituency of Upper Valais thus includes:
- the Brig district
- in the Conthey district the municipalities of Conthey , Nendaz and Vétroz
- the Goms district
- the district of Hérens
- the district of Leuk
- the Eastern Raron district
- the district of Sierre
- the district of Sion
- the district Westlich Raron
- the Visp district
In 1919, the two Wallis constituencies were merged to form the Wallis National Council constituency, which still exists today , in which proportional representation applies.
National Councils
- G = total renewal election
- E = replacement election in the event of vacancies
source
- Erich Gruner : The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 3 . Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1445-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Federal law on the election of members of the National Council (of December 21, 1850). (PDF, 676 kB) In: Federal Gazette No. 61 of December 28, 1850. admin.ch , May 21, 2013, accessed on November 1, 2014 .
- ↑ Supplementary Act on Elections to the National Council. (PDF, 1.0 MB) In: Federal Gazette No. 24 of June 6, 1863. admin.ch, May 21, 2013, accessed on November 1, 2014 .
- ^ Federal law on the electoral districts of the National Council (of June 4, 1902). (PDF, 281 kB) In: Federal Gazette No. 24 of June 11, 1902. admin.ch, May 21, 2013, accessed on November 1, 2014 .