Lower Valais National Council constituency
The Lower Valais National Council constituency was a constituency in elections to the Swiss National Council . It existed from 1851 to 1919 (introduction of today's proportional voting rights ) and covered the western 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
Unterwallis 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. From 1851 (first application of a uniform federal law), Unterwallis had the number 47, from 1863 the number 45, from 1872 the number 46, from 1881 the number 47, from 1890 the number 50 and from 1902 the number 47.
The Lower Valais always had 2 seats.
expansion
In the National Council elections in 1848 , Lower Valais was divided into two constituencies with 1 seat each, created by the Valais cantonal government . Constituency III included the districts of Conthey , Entremont and Martigny , constituency IV the districts of Monthey and Saint-Maurice . With the “Federal Law on the Election of Members of the National Council” of December 21, 1850, both constituencies were merged. The constituency of Lower Valais comprised:
- the Conthey district
- the Entremont district
- the Martigny district
- the Monthey district
- the Saint-Maurice district
The area was reduced in size with the "Supplementary Act on Elections to the National Council" of July 23, 1863. Several communities in the Conthey district were ceded to the Central Valais constituency . The constituency of Lower Valais now comprised:
- in the Conthey district the municipalities of Ardon and Chamoson
- the Entremont district
- the Martigny district
- the Monthey district
- the Saint-Maurice 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 .