National Council constituency St. Gallen-Süd
The National Council constituency St. Gallen-Süd was an electoral district in elections to the Swiss National Council . It existed from 1848 to 1919 (introduction of today's proportional voting rights ) and covered the southern part of the canton of St. Gallen .
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
St. Gallen-Süd 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. St. Gallen-Süd had the number 29 from 1851 (first application of a uniform federal law), from 1872 the number 30, from 1881 the number 31, from 1890 the number 32 and from 1911 the number 33.
The number of seats available to St. Gallen-Süd changed several times:
- 1848 to 1860: 2 seats
- 1863 to 1887: 3 seats
- 1890 to 1908: 2 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 II, created in 1848 by the St. Gallen cantonal government , was adopted unchanged. St. Gallen-South comprised:
- the Upper Rhine Valley district without the communities of Marbach and Rebstein
- the Sargans district
- the Werdenberg district
The first change in the area came about with the "Supplementary Law on Elections to the National Council" of July 23, 1863. St. Gallen-Süd received most of the disbanded constituency of St. Gallen-West , while the communities in the Upper Rhine Valley were assigned to the constituency St. Gallen-northeast went over. St. Gallen-Süd now comprised:
- the Gaster district
- the Obertoggenburg district
- the Sargans district
- the lake district
- the Werdenberg district
In accordance with the “Federal Act on Federal Elections and Votes” of July 19, 1872, the area was adjusted when two communities in the Werdenberg district were ceded to the St. Gallen-Nordost constituency . St. Gallen-Süd thus comprised:
- the Gaster district
- the Obertoggenburg district
- the Sargans district
- the lake district
- the Werdenberg district without the communities of Gams and Sennwald
With the “Federal Law on Elections to the National Council” of May 3, 1881, the communities of Gams and Sennwald, which had been ceded nine years earlier, were returned to the St. Gallen-Süd constituency.
The Federal Law on Elections to the National Council of June 20, 1890, when Obertoggenburg and the Werdenberg district were added to the newly created constituency of St. Gallen-Mitte, was significantly reduced . From then on, St. Gallen-Süd comprised:
- the Gaster district
- the Sargans district
- the lake district
In 1919 the five St. Gallen constituencies were merged to form the St. Gallen 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 2, 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 2, 2014 .
- ^ Message from the Federal Council to the High Federal Assembly on the elections to the National Council (of June 24, 1872). (PDF, 722 kB) In: Federal Gazette No. 30 of July 6, 1872. admin.ch, May 21, 2013, accessed on November 2, 2014 .
- ↑ Federal law on elections to the National Council (of May 3, 1881). (PDF, 288 kB) In: Federal Gazette No. 20 of May 10, 1881. admin.ch, May 21, 2013, accessed on November 2, 2014 .
- ^ Federal law on elections to the National Council (of June 20, 1890). (PDF, 296 kB) In: Federal Gazette No. 26 of June 21, 1890. admin.ch, May 21, 2013, accessed on November 2, 2014 .