Swiss parliamentary elections 1896

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← 1893General election of
the National Council in 18961899 →
Turnout: 55.9%
 %
50
40
30th
20th
10
0
48.7
23.0
14.5
6.8
5.4
0.02
Otherwise.
Gains and losses
compared to
 % p
   8th
   6th
   4th
   2
   0
  -2
  -4
  -6
+6.9
+3.0
-2.3
+0.9
-4.9
-5.18
Otherwise.
Template: election chart / maintenance / notes
Remarks:
a Liberal Left (FL)

The Swiss parliamentary elections in 1896 took place on October 25, 1896. There were 147 seats in the National Council for election . The elections were made according to the majority vote , with the country divided into 52 national council constituencies of different sizes . The clear winner of the election was the Free Democratic Party , which emerged in 1894 from the merger of the Free Democrats (or radical liberals) with groups close to them. The newly elected parliament met for the first time in the 17th legislative period on December 7, 1896.

Election campaign

Campaigns for a referendum vote, which took place on October 4th (just three weeks before the elections), largely overshadowed the election campaign. All three templates were highly controversial. The federal law on the army disciplinary penalty was clearly rejected, and a revised livestock trade law was rejected. Only the federal law on the accounting of the railways met with approval. The Liberals viewed the increasing number of referendums and popular initiatives tabled by both right and left opposition as an obstacle to the state's prosperous development. In order to be able to counter the growing competition of the social democrats and also new economic interest groups of farmers and traders, they considered a nationwide party organization to be indispensable. In 1894 they founded the Free Democratic Party (FDP). The FDP saw itself as a people's party of the middle, which, in addition to the previous liberals and radical democrats, also comprised the right wing of the democratic movement and the left wing of the moderate liberals. In a certain way, it made a claim to hegemony.

The founding of the Catholic Conservative Party under the name of the "Catholic People's Party", which was also carried out in 1894, failed after a short time due to internal disagreement and the conflict of wanting to take on a dual role as opposition and ruling party. The Democrats who did not convert to the FDP now saw themselves as the “extreme left”. However, they almost only played a role in those cantons where there was no Social Democratic Party and the old alliance with the Grütliverein still existed. The candidacies of Social Democrats were only promising in a few cases; they were mainly used to strengthen class consciousness with a view to later elections through agitation .

During the 16th legislative period there were 16 substitute elections in 14 electoral districts due to vacancies, with the FDP winning seven seats. In 1896 there were a total of 61 ballots (two fewer than three years earlier). In 46 of 52 constituencies, the elections were already decided after the first ballot. With Adrien Lachenal , only one incumbent Federal Councilor ran for a compliment election ; that is, he stood for election as a national councilor in order to have the voters confirm his legitimacy as a member of the state government. This put an end to this custom, which was common in the second half of the 19th century. With the last supplementary election on February 28, 1897, the National Council was complete.

The turnout fell by 2.5 percentage points compared to 1893. The canton of Nidwalden had the highest value , where 90.3% cast their vote. The cantons of Aargau and Schaffhausen (exceptionally not the front runner) also recorded over 80% participation . The lowest voter turnout was in the canton of Obwalden , where only 21.4% took part in the elections. The clear winner was the FDP, with its twelve seat wins mainly due to the transfer of various national councilors of the democratic faction (especially in the canton of Zurich ) and the liberal center.

Result of the National Council elections

Overall result

Of the 713,367 adult male eligible voters, 398,625 took part in the elections, which corresponds to a turnout of 55.9%.

The 147 seats in the National Council were distributed as follows:

1
7th
86
23
30th
1 7th 86 23 30th 
A total of 147 seats
  • SP : 1
  • DL : 7
  • FDP : 86
  • LM : 23
  • KK : 30
Political party Seats
1893		 before
dissolution		 Seats
1896		 +/- Share of
voters		 +/-
FDP 74 81 86 +12 48.7% + 6.9%
KK 29 29 30th + 01 23.0% + 3.0%
LM 27 27 23 - 04th 14.5% −2.3%
DL 16 9 7th - 09 05.4% −4.9%
SP 1 1 1 ± 00 06.8% + 0.9%
Various - - - - 01.6% + 0.4%
HE - - - - - −4.0%

Note: Candidates can only be assigned to parties and political groups to a limited extent (with the exception of the Liberals and Social Democrats). In line with the political reality of the late 19th century, one can rather speak of party currents or directions, the boundaries of which are partially 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		 FDP KK LM DL SP
Kanton AargauKanton Aargau Aargau 10 4th 82.2% 7th +1 1 −1 2
Canton of Appenzell AusserrhodenCanton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden Appenzell Ausserrhoden 3 1 66.3% 3 +3 - −3
Canton of Appenzell InnerrhodenCanton of Appenzell Innerrhoden Appenzell Innerrhoden 1 1 79.9% 1
Canton of Basel-CountryCanton of Basel-Country Basel-Country 3 1 33.7% 2 1
Canton of Basel-StadtCanton of Basel-Stadt Basel city 4th 1 56.3% 2 +2 1 −1 - −2 1 +1
Canton BernCanton Bern Bern 27 7th 46.5% 25th −1 2 +1
Canton of FriborgCanton of Friborg Freiburg 6th 3 54.8% 1 5 +1 - −1
Canton of GenevaCanton of Geneva Geneva 5 1 54.1% 3 +1 2 −1
Canton of GlarusCanton of Glarus Glarus 2 1 56.2% 1 −1 1 +1
canton of Grisonscanton of Grisons Grisons 5 3 59.9% - −1 1 3 +1 1
Canton lucerneCanton lucerne Lucerne 7th 3 48.9% 2 5
Canton of NeuchâtelCanton of Neuchâtel Neuchâtel 5 1 51.4% 4th −1 1 +1
Canton of NidwaldenCanton of Nidwalden Nidwalden 1 1 90.3% 1
Canton of ObwaldenCanton of Obwalden Obwalden 1 1 21.4% 1
Canton of SchaffhausenCanton of Schaffhausen Schaffhausen 2 1 89.3% 2
Canton of SchwyzCanton of Schwyz Schwyz 3 1 26.0% 3
Canton of SolothurnCanton of Solothurn Solothurn 4th 1 39.4% 3 1 +1 - −1
Canton of St. GallenCanton of St. Gallen St. Gallen 11 5 75.9% 3 5 1 2
Canton of TicinoCanton of Ticino Ticino 6th 2 51.4% 6th
Canton of ThurgauCanton of Thurgau Thurgau 5 1 68.7% 2 −1 3 +2 - −1
Canton of UriCanton of Uri Uri 1 1 50.5% 1
Canton of VaudCanton of Vaud Vaud 12 3 37.6% 9 3
Canton of ValaisCanton of Valais Valais 5 3 44.5% 1 4th
Canton of ZugCanton of Zug train 1 1 55.1% 1 +1 - −1
Canton ZurichCanton Zurich Zurich 17th 4th 66.9% 9 +9 6th −1 2 −7 - −1
Switzerland 147 52 55.9% 86 +12 30th +1 23 −4 7th −9 1 ± 0

Council of States

The members of the Council of States in 15 cantons were free to vote themselves: in the cantons of Basel-Landschaft , Basel-Stadt , Geneva , Graubünden , Solothurn , Ticino , Thurgau , Zug and Zurich at the ballot box, in the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden , Appenzell Innerrhoden , Glarus , Nidwalden , Obwalden and Uri an der Landsgemeinde . 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

  1. ↑ a b Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, second part, p. 738.
  2. ^ Daniel Moser-Léchot: Free -spirited Democratic Party (FDP). In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz ., Accessed on August 2, 2014.
  3. ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, second part, pp. 739-740.
  4. ↑ 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 .
  5. ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, p. 369.
  6. ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 1, second part, p. 743.
  7. ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, p. 485.
  8. ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, pp. 237-248
  9. ↑ Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 , Volume 3, p. 361.