SP Canton of St. Gallen

SP Canton of St. Gallen

Establishment date:	1905
Place of foundation:	Rorschach
Presidium:	Max Lemmenmeier Felix Birchler Arber Bullakaj Peter Hartmann Esther Rohrer
Secretary General:	Guido Ferdinand Berlinger-Bolt Daniel Sandro Hungerbühler
Members:	1500 (as of 01/01/2016)
Share of voters:	14.9% (2011)
National Council:	Claudia Friedl Barbara Gysi
Council of States:	Paul Rechsteiner
Cantonal parliaments:	20 (as of March 11, 2016)
Cantonal Governments:	Fredy Fässler Heidi Hanselmann (as of May 1, 2016)
Home address:	Zwinglistrasse 3 P.O. Box 1818 9001 St.Gallen
Website:	www.sp-sg.ch

The Social Democratic Party of Canton St.Gallen (SP St.Gallen) is a political party in the canton of St. Gallen . It is a cantonal party of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland and is affiliated with the Socialist Lake Constance International on an international level . The President is the St. Gallen Cantonal Councilor Max Lemmenmeier. The party is represented in the National Council by Claudia Friedl and Barbara Gysi and in the Council of States by Paul Rechsteiner .

history

Foundation phase

The SP Canton St. Gallen was founded on January 15, 1905. The delegates of the St. Gallen Grütli and workers' associations were invited to the founding meeting in Rorschach . At that time there was only a social democratic party in the city of St. Gallen, while the Grütli and workers' associations were more present in rural areas. At this meeting, it was decided to found the Social Democratic Cantonal Party, which should immediately join the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland. The question of whether this cantonal association should join the SP or the Grütli associations was a point that was discussed intensively in Rorschach. Johannes Huber , who was elected the first president of the cantonal party, prevented a split at the founding meeting by seeking a balance between the then dominant Democrats, Grütliandern and Social Democrats. He decided the more moderate Rorschach as a suburb of the newly founded cantonal party and not the more radical St. Gallen. At the constituent meeting of the SP Cantonal Board on March 5, 1905, Huber was then elected President. Other members came mainly from Rorschach and Goldach. In August 1905, the cantonal board presented the first draft of a work program. It comprised 65 postulates, including the right to vote for women in church and school issues, proportional voting for the Grand Council (today: Cantonal Council ), a strengthening of workers' protection, paid vacation for state employees, etc. Almost a year later, it took place on March 4, 1906 in Uzwil the first congress of the new cantonal party took place.

The Social Democrats achieved political successes with the Democratic Party or the Workers' Party even before the Social Democratic Party was founded. In 1902, Heinrich Scherrer from St. Gallen was elected to the St. Gallen government as the first social democrat. Within the Democratic Party there were many thought leaders from the St. Gallen left. An alliance with the conservatives called "Allianz" enabled them to achieve a number of electoral successes against the then strong liberals. Scherrer was later elected to the National Council in 1909 and to the Council of States in 1911. When Scherrer died in 1919, the Left lost its seat in government for ten years and on the Council of States for 52 years.

In the National Council elections in 1925, the party was able to count on two previous elected officials: Johannes Huber and Valentin Keel. Huber's intention to resign led to the fact that the party secretariat was expanded. During the election campaign, the SP successfully fought a tax hike that should have paid off the canton's debts. In the elections, a third social democrat, Emil Hardegger, a St. Gallen city councilor, was elected to the national council. Hardegger, however, renounced the mandate, whereupon the canton council and farmer Jabob Fenk could move up. In 1930 Valentin Keel was able to regain the seat of the government council in St. Gallen, which he kept until 1943.

First successes

Johannes Huber remained in the National Council despite his resignation. During the Second World War he was President of the National Council's Powers of Attorney Commission and the so-called “Eighth Federal Councilor”. Together with Jakob Fenk, he resigned from the National Council in 1947. His son Harald Huber and Mathias Eggenberger were elected as successors. The SP, on the other hand, repeatedly had difficulties gaining a seat on the Council of States. The reason for this was the close cooperation between the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. The SP could only win against this partnership if this duo did not work. With the National Councilor Mathias Eggenberger, the Social Democrats wanted to start such an attempt again. They had good prerequisites after Eggenberger was elected President of the National Council in 1969 and thus the highest Swiss. Inside the party, however, the SP had major differences at the time. In the dispute over foreigner policy in particular, many traditional SP voters turned their backs on the party and voted for the newly emerging parties against foreign infiltration. The Social Democrats were also unable to benefit from the 1968 movement: In the National Council elections in 1971, the SP lost around four percent of the votes and in the 1972 Cantonal Council elections, the Social Democrats had to give up eight of their 29 seats. In 1971 the party managed to be elected to the Council of States. The reasons for this were strong personalities and a high degree of professionalism in party work. In the first ballot, the party nominated the then party president Paul Steiner and made so many votes that the liberal candidate Simon Frick could not achieve the absolute majority. In the second ballot, Mathias Eggenberger was finally elected. In 1975 Eggenberger died in office.

In the National Council elections in 1985, Hans Rohrer was elected. After the resignation of the social democratic government councilor Florian Schlegel in 1986, Rohrer was elected as his successor. Ten years later Rohrer and Kathrin Hilber ran as a duo for the government council elections . With the election of Hilber in 1996, the SP achieved two representatives for the first time. Kathrin Hilber was elected to the National Council in 1995, like Rohrer one year before the election to the government. In her election she defeated the free-minded opponent Ruedi Giezendanner. After the resignation of Hans Rohrer, the seat went back to the FDP. Four years later, the SP won back the second seat in 2004 with Heidi Hanselmann, a native of Walenstadt . Hanselmann made herself popular as a health politician. In her 2003 election campaign for the Council of States, Hanselmann only received 33,566 votes, which is around half of the votes required. In the 2004 government council elections, she ran in the first ballot against the unpopular health minister Anton Grüninger , and in the second ballot against the then CVP National Councilor Walter Hess , against whom she also won.

21st century

The lawyer Paul Rechsteiner presided over the SP of the city of St. Gallen in the early 1980s and followed a left-wing course. In 1986 he was elected to the National Council and shaped the strategy of the left in Switzerland. As a representative of the anti-racism and anti-apartheid movement, he was the initiator of various projects and popular initiatives and set milestones in coming to terms with the past, including the rehabilitation of the refugee rescuer Paul Grüninger . During his time in the National Council, Hildegard Fässler was elected to the National Council in 1997. Fässler became known for her distinctive appearance in economic and financial issues and five years after her election in 2002 she became parliamentary leader of the SP parliamentary group. She also headed the SP Canton St. Gallen from 2000 to 2003. From 2004 the Cantonal Councilor Claudia Friedl took over the presidium. In her first year in office as party president, Heidi Hanselmann was elected to the government; in the cantonal elections that took place at the same time, the Social Democratic parliamentary group increased its number of seats by four to 35 from 180. The Swiss People's Party was able to gain further growth in the 2004 and 2008 elections, while the SP suffered a massive loss of seats in the 2008 elections, while at the same time reducing the size of the Cantonal Council from 180 to 120 seats. This led to a weakening of the SP in the legislature between 2008 and 2012.

Councilor of States Paul Rechsteiner

In the national and Council of States elections in 2011, the SP was again successful. After the then FDP Councilor of States Erika Forster-Vannini announced her resignation, the SP nominated the previous National Councilor Paul Rechsteiner for the Council of States elections . Rechsteiner renounced the candidacy on the National Council list, so that the Social Democrats could only run with Hildegard Fässler as the previous National Councilor. What was unusual in the selection of candidates was that the SP nominated Monika Simmler , then President of the Young Socialists in the canton of St. Gallen, as the top candidate . On election day, the SP was able to defend its two seats in the National Council. She won around two percentage points and was able, together with Hildegard Fässler, the former Wiler Councilwoman Barbara Gysi in the 49th Legislature of the National send. In the elections for the Council of States, Rechsteiner had to compete against the previous CVP Councilor Eugen David , the previous Green National Councilor Yvonne Gilli , the former FDP Government Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter and the previous SVP National Councilor and SVP Party President Toni Brunner . In the first ballot, Keller-Sutter achieved significantly more votes than the previous CVP Council of States Eugen. Paul Rechsteiner, on the other hand, achieved fourth place with 44,348 votes. In the second ballot on November 27, 2011, Rechsteiner competed against Brunner and the new CVP candidate Michael Hüppi and just won the Council of States election with 54,616 votes. With this election, the SP was able to appoint a Council of States in the canton of St. Gallen for the first time in 36 years.

In the cantonal elections in March 2012, the SP was able to gain again. This wave of success was referred to in the media as the “Rechsteiner Effect”. The SP grew in practically all regions and was able to increase its number of seats from 16 to 20. In the government council elections that took place at the same time, the previous SP government councilor Kathrin Hilber did not run. Only in the second ballot could the Social Democrats secure their second seat in government alongside Heidi Hanselmann with Fredy Fässler . After the successful elections, the previous SP canton president Claudia Friedl announced her resignation. Monika Simmler was elected as her successor .

organization

The SP Canton of St. Gallen has around 1400 members. In the Cantonal it is represented with 20 members, organizes together with the Green Party in the SPG Group, of Peter Hartmann will preside. The party president is Monika Simmler from St. Gallen, while the vice-presidents are Felix Birchler, Peter Hartmann, Arber Bullakaj, Ursula Graf and Maria Pappa. The secretariat is led by the political secretaries Guido Ferdinand Berlinger-Bolt and Daniel Hungerbühler.

Elected officials

Federal parliament

advice	Surname	place of residence	Term of office
NO	Heinrich Scherrer	St. Gallen	1902-1911
SR	Heinrich Scherrer	St. Gallen	1911-1919
NO	Valentin Keel	St. Gallen	1919-1931
NO	Johannes Huber	Rorschach	1919-1947
NO	Jakob Fenk	Sennwald	1925-1947
NO	Emil Hardegger	St. Gallen	1931-1935
NO	Harald Huber	St. Gallen	1947-1971
NO	Mathias Eggenberger	Uzwil	1947-1971
NO	Florian Vetsch	Buchs SG	1963-1969
NO	Florian Schlegel	St. Gallen	1969-1972
NO	Hanna Sahlfeld-Singer	Altstätten	1971-1975
SR	Mathias Eggenberger	Grabs	1971-1975
NO	Walter Ammann	Lichtensteig	1976-1991
NO	Hans Rohner	Buchs SG	1985-1986
NO	Paul Rechsteiner	St. Gallen	1986-2012
NO	Elisabeth Caspar-Hutter	St. Gallen	1991-1995
NO	Kathrin Hilber	St. Gallen	1995-1996
NO	Fredi Alder	Rorschach	1995-1999
NO	Hildegard Fässler	Grabs	1996-2013
NO	Barbara Gysi	Want	2012–
SR	Paul Rechsteiner	St. Gallen	2012–
NO	Claudia Friedl	St. Gallen	2013–

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