Swiss parliamentary elections 1890
The Swiss parliamentary elections in 1890 took place on October 26, 1890. There were 147 seats in the National Council (two more than before). The elections were made according to the majority vote , with the country divided into 52 national council constituencies of different sizes . The liberals (or radical liberals) asserted themselves as the strongest force and achieved just under the absolute majority; otherwise the seat displacements were limited. The newly elected parliament met for the first time in the 15th legislative period on December 1, 1890.
Reallocation of constituencies
The majority vote was increasingly criticized because it disadvantaged political minorities. Various approaches in parliament called on the Federal Council to work out proposals for a new electoral law (either adapting the previous system or introducing proportional representation ). A first attempt at revision failed in 1885, but the National Council immediately transferred a new postulate from the inferior minority of the commission. Based on studies by statistician Joseph Durrer, the Federal Council favored reducing the "optimal size" of an electoral district from four to three seats, which would increase the chances of smaller parties. He even moved the census planned for 1890 forward by two years so that the reallocation could be applied as quickly as possible. According to the principle laid down in 1848 that a National Council must represent 20,000 souls (residents) or a fraction of more than 10,000 souls, the total number of seats increased from 145 to 147. The cantons of Basel-Stadt , St. Gallen and Zurich each received an additional seat. On the other hand, the canton of Ticino lost one seat due to the emigration of Gotthard Railway workers.
In the Federal Council's message, there was no longer any mention of a consistent application of the three-way optimum, since in the consultation only the cantons of Friborg and Zurich unreservedly supported the Federal Council's proposal. Nevertheless, all five constituencies should be separated into three and two constituencies each (with the exception of Geneva , which had vehemently opposed any division). The preliminary consultation commission of the National Council rejected any upper limit on the constituency size and limited itself to small retouching, while the minority of the commission continued to demand the strict three-way optimum. The National Council followed the commission majority with 77 to 50 votes. After the Council of States had voted 27 to 11 in favor of a slight modification of the Federal Council's proposal, the National Council insisted on its decision by 70 to 52.
When the whole proposal threatened to fail, both councils finally came up with a compromise. The constituency of Bern-Jura was divided into two parts - but in such a way that the Jura Catholic conservatives would probably not benefit to the full extent. The constituency around the city of Bern was slightly enlarged at the expense of the Seeland , while the Bernese Oberland was not divided up . The constituency around the city of Zurich was the first to be awarded six seats, which moved even further away from the "optimum" of four seats. In the canton of Aargau , in response to numerous petitions, a safe single constituency in Freiamt was created for the Catholic Conservatives. The amalgamation of two conservative constituencies in the canton of Lucerne was completely undisputed . The canton of St. Gallen in turn received two additional constituencies; Because almost all political camps could be satisfied, the completely new demarcation that had become necessary found a majority. The “Federal Act on Elections to the National Council” came into force on June 20, 1890. This increased the number of constituencies from 49 to 52.
Election campaign
The dominant campaign topic was the Ticino putsch , which surprisingly broke out on September 11, 1890. The Ticino liberals carried out an armed coup against the conservative cantonal government after it repeatedly postponed a revision of the constitution and the unfair electoral law. State Councilor Luigi Rossi was shot dead by an insurgent. The Federal Council then ordered a federal intervention , which was led by Arnold Künzli . Passionate statements for and against the federal intervention revived contradictions that were believed to have disappeared, while economic and socio-political discussions were pushed into the background. The politics of consensus that emerged in the mid-1880s between liberals and conservatives of both denominations had already begun to evaporate before the Ticino putsch. In particular, the referendum against debt collection and bankruptcy law in 1889 and the lack of concession on the part of the liberals in the electoral district reform contributed to the upset.
During the election campaign, the liberals were particularly anxious to distance themselves from the right. They found the Social Democratic Party , which was founded in 1888 and which ran for the first time in the elections, to be largely harmless . Many voters were not yet aware of the extent to which the social reform program of the social democrats, for example , differed from that of the democrats or the liberal left wing. The real losers in the election were the Reformed Conservatives, who no longer played a political role after 1890; their remaining representatives later mostly joined the liberal center.
During the 14th legislative period , there were 17 substitute elections in as many constituencies due to vacancies, with the liberal center gaining four seats. In 1890 there were a total of 66 ballots (seven more than three years earlier). In 43 of 52 constituencies, the elections were already decided after the first ballot. Only three federal councilors ran for a compliment election ; that is, they stood for election as national councilors in order to have the voters confirm their legitimacy as members of the state government. This custom, common in the second half of the 19th century, found fewer and fewer followers. Adolf Deucher , Walter Hauser and Karl Schenk deliberately refrained from voting for compliments, but were nevertheless confirmed by the Federal Assembly without any problems. With the last supplementary election on February 1, 1891, the National Council was complete.
The turnout increased by 7.2 percentage points compared to 1887. This was the second highest value in the entire Majorz era, which lasted until 1919. As usual, the highest value was recorded in the canton of Schaffhausen , where 94.3% cast their vote due to the mandatory voting there. The cantons of Aargau and Obwalden also recorded over 80% participation . The lowest voter turnout was in the canton of Schwyz with 35.6%. The liberals again asserted themselves as clearly the strongest force. The only political group that lost seats were the Reformed Conservatives. The Social Democrats were able to win a seat for the first time.
Result of the National Council elections
Overall result
Of 664,144 male eligible voters, 415,098 took part in the elections, which corresponds to a turnout of 62.5%.
The 147 seats in the National Council were distributed as follows:
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|
Note: Candidates can only be assigned to parties and political groups to a limited extent (with the exception of the Social Democrats). In line with the political reality of the 19th century, one can rather speak of party currents or directions, the boundaries of which are partly fluid. The party names used are therefore an ideological assessment.
Results in the cantons
The table below shows the distribution of seats won by cantons.
| Canton | seats total |
electoral circles |
participating pation |
FL | KK | LM | DL | HE | SP | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aargau
|
10 | 4th | 84.5% | 7th | +2 | 1 | −1 | 2 | −1 | ||||||
 Appenzell Ausserrhoden
|
3 | 1 | 76.4% | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||
 Appenzell Innerrhoden
|
1 | 1 | 78.7% | 1 | +1 | - | −1 | ||||||||
 Basel-Country
|
3 | 1 | 68.2% | 3 | |||||||||||
 Basel city
|
4th | 1 | 57.4% | 3 | 1 | +1 | |||||||||
 Bern
|
27 | 7th | 47.5% | 24 | 1 | +1 | 1 | +1 | 1 | −2 | |||||
 Freiburg
|
6th | 3 | 69.1% | 1 | +1 | 5 | - | −1 | |||||||
 Geneva
|
5 | 1 | 60.3% | 2 | −1 | 3 | +1 | ||||||||
 Glarus
|
2 | 1 | 60.6% | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
 Grisons
|
5 | 3 | 69.6% | 1 | −1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | +1 | ||||||
 Lucerne
|
7th | 3 | 41.7% | 2 | 5 | ||||||||||
 Neuchâtel
|
5 | 1 | 58.2% | 5 | |||||||||||
 Nidwalden
|
1 | 1 | 42.3% | 1 | |||||||||||
 Obwalden
|
1 | 1 | 90.0% | 1 | |||||||||||
 Schaffhausen
|
2 | 1 | 94.3% | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
 Schwyz
|
3 | 1 | 35.6% | 3 | |||||||||||
 Solothurn
|
4th | 1 | 71.1% | 3 | - | −1 | 1 | +1 | |||||||
 St. Gallen
|
11 | 5 | 79.6% | 3 | +1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
 Ticino
|
6th | 2 | 56.8% | 2 | 4th | −1 | |||||||||
 Thurgau
|
5 | 1 | 75.5% | 3 | −1 | 1 | 1 | +1 | |||||||
 Uri
|
1 | 1 | 69.4% | 1 | |||||||||||
 Vaud
|
12 | 3 | 41.4% | 12 | |||||||||||
 Valais
|
5 | 3 | 68.1% | 1 | 4th | +1 | - | −1 | |||||||
 train
|
1 | 1 | 58.7% | 1 | |||||||||||
 Zurich
|
17th | 4th | 76.1% | 7th | +1 | 9 | −1 | 1 | +1 | ||||||
| Switzerland | 147 | 52 | 62.5% | 74 | +1 | 35 | ± 0 | 20th | +1 | 15th | +1 | 2 | −2 | 1 | +1 |
Council of States
The members of the Council of States were only able to choose who were eligible to vote in eleven cantons: in the cantons of Basel-Stadt , Graubünden , Solothurn , Thurgau , Zug and Zurich at the ballot box, in the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden , Glarus , Nidwalden , Obwalden and Uri at the rural community . In all other cantons, the election was made indirectly by the respective cantonal parliaments .
literature
- Erich Gruner : The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 1 , first part. Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1442-9 .
- Erich Gruner: The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 1 , second part. Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1443-7 .
- Erich Gruner: The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 2 . Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1444-5 (notes).
- Erich Gruner: The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 3 . Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1445-3 (tables, graphics, maps).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, first part, pp. 358-359.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, first part, pp. 359-360.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections to the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, first part, pp. 365–368.
- ^ 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 July 31, 2014 .
- ↑ Marco Marcacci: Ticino putsch. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz ., Accessed on July 31, 2014
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, second part, pp. 720–721.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, second part, p. 722.
- ↑ a b Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, second part, p. 729.
- ↑ Paul Fink: The «choice of compliments» by incumbent Federal Councilors in the National Council 1851-1896 . In: Allgemeine Geschichtsforschende Gesellschaft der Schweiz (Hrsg.): Swiss journal for history . tape 45 , issue 2. Schwabe AG , 1995, ISSN 0036-7834 , p. 227 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-81131 .
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, p. 369.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, p. 485.
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, pp. 213-224
- ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, p. 359.
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