Swiss parliamentary elections 1939

← 1935General election of
the National Council in 19391943 →

Turnout: 74.3%

 %

30th

20th

10

0

25.93

20.72

16.98

14.74

7.07

4.48

2.73

1.76

1.66

3.93

SP

FDP

CIP

BGB

LdU

JB

DP

FWB

LPS

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to

 % p

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

-2.08

-3.00

-3.28

+3.76

+2.93

+1.40

+1.70

+0.55

-1.68

-0.30

SP

FDP

CIP

BGB

LdU

JB

DP

FWB

LPS

Otherwise.

Bundeshaus in Bern:
seat of the Swiss parliament

The Swiss parliamentary elections in 1939 took place on October 29, 1939. All 187 mandates of the National Council and 24 of 43 mandates in the Council of States were to be reassigned. This 31st legislative period lasted four years until October 1943.

Because of the mobilization following the start of World War II, many men were not stationed at their homes. Out of consideration, there were silent elections in nine cantons (as many candidates as seats = no election). Therefore the results are not to be weighted in the same way as in peacetime elections.

The Social Democrats (SPS) were the big losers in the election. They had to give up 5 of their 50 seats. Four of these seats went to the Féderation socialiste suisse led by Léon Nicole , which had been expelled from the SPS for its support for the Hitler-Stalin Pact . The German-Swiss communists, however, lost their two seats. Other losers were the young farmers and the parties of the front movement , which did not even run for election. The Evangelical People's Party also failed to obtain a seat in the National Council - the first and so far only time since the introduction of proportional representation in 1919. The traditionally bourgeois parties FDP, KVP, BGB and DP as well as the Landesring each gained one or two seats.

There were only insignificant shifts in the Council of States.

The average turnout in the National Council elections in 1939 fell sharply to 74.3%, with cantonal values ​​between 41.7% in Obwalden and 89.1% in Aargau.

Election mode

National Council

The national councils have been elected according to the proportional representation system since 1919 . H. the seats are distributed in the individual cantons according to the proportion of voters on the party lists and only within the list according to the individual votes. The number of seats per canton is determined based on the number of inhabitants.

More detailed on this: National Council (Switzerland) - electoral process

Council of States

Every canton has elected two representatives for the Council of States since 1848 (former half-cantons : one representative). The elections to the Council of States are based on cantonal law. In most of the cantons, the cantons were also elected on October 25th. In the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden , Glarus , Nidwalden and Obwalden , the municipalities elected the Council of States in spring. The cantons not only had different election dates, but also terms of office of different lengths (1–4 years). In the cantons of Bern (November session ), Friborg (1 person in the May session, 1 person in the November session), Neuchâtel (on the same day with the National Council elections) and St. Gallen (in the spring session), the Council of States were elected by the cantonal parliament. In all other cantons, the Council of States was determined in ballot boxes, usually on the same day as the National Council elections. In deviation from this, the voters in the cantons of Graubünden (first Sunday in March), Ticino (last Sunday in February) and Zug (in November) voted .

More detailed on this: Council of States - electoral procedure

Results National Council

Notes on voter numbers

In the multi-person constituencies, each voter has as many votes as there are seats available in his canton (34 in the canton of Bern, 2 in the canton of Zug). He can assign these votes to any candidate on the lists that are standing for election ( panaschieren ). One vote for a candidate is also one vote for his party. If a voter has not given all of his votes to candidates, these votes go to the list chosen by him as so-called "additional votes". If the voter does not select a list, but uses a so-called "ballot slip without party name" - also known as a blank list - unused votes expire (so-called empty votes).

In order to obtain results that are comparable across cantons, the number of fictitious voters per canton and party must first be calculated. And the sum of all fictitious voters of the individual cantons is then the voters at the state level (e.g. SP rounded to 160,377 voters). An Aargau "voter" can also consist of 12 people who only have one candidate from the party concerned on their list.

The Federal Statistical Office therefore uses the term "fictitious voter" for the voter, since an effective voter can only be a partial voter. The number of voters corresponds to the number of valid ballot papers. At the canton level, the sum of all party votes (sum of the candidate votes of candidates from a party plus additional votes = empty fields in a party list) is the basis for calculation. Example: Party A gets 12,000 in canton X, party B 27,000 and party C 48,000 out of 87,000 party votes. The number of valid ballot papers is 25,000.Thus, party A has 3,448.28 (12,000: 87,000 × 25,000), party B 7,758.62 (27,000: 87,000 × 25,000) and party C 13,793.10 (48,000: 87,000 × 25,000) in this canton. fictional voters. All three parties together have a total of 25,000 voters.

The elected members of the National Council are listed in Federal Gazette No. 48 of November 29, 1939.

Parties, voters, seats

Silent elections were held in the cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Schwyz, Solothurn, Ticino, Waadt, Wallis and Zug. Because of this, the figures below give a skewed picture of the electorate. The voting share of parties with strongholds in the cantons (especially Catholic Conservatives and Liberals) is underestimated, while that of parties that were strong in the other cantons (BGB, LdU, Jungbaueren) is correspondingly oversubscribed. The percentage values ​​are not comparable with previous or subsequent elections.

4th

45

1

9

5

49

6th

43

22nd

3

4th 45 1 9 5 49 6th 43 22nd 3 

A total of 187 seats

• FSS : 4
• SP : 45
• FWB : 1
• LdU : 9
• DP : 5
• FDP : 49
• LPS : 6
• KVP : 43
• BGB : 22
• JB : 3

Political party	Voters	%	Seats	(+/-)
Social Democratic Party	160,377	25.93%	45	−5
Liberal Democratic Party	128'163	20.72%	49	+1
Conservative People's Party	105,018	16.98%	43	+1
Farmers, trade and citizens' party	91,182	14.74%	22nd	+1
National Ring of Independents	43,735	7.07%	9	+2
Young farmers movement	27,708	4.48%	3	−1
Democratic Party	16,891	2.73%	5	+2
Swiss Free Trade Association (ZH, BE, BS, BL)	10,865	1.76%	1	+1
Liberal Party of Switzerland	10,241	1.66%	6th	± 0
Fédération socialiste suisse	7,998	1.29%	4th	+4
Communist Party of Switzerland	7,964	1.29%	0	−2
Evangelical People's Party	5,726	0.93%	0	−1
Basel farmers' party, Free Democrats and non-party members (BL)	2,216	0.36%	0	± 0
Action Committee for the Breaking of Interest Bondage (BL)	65	0.01%	0	± 0
Isolated votes in single constituencies	384	0.06%	0	± 0
Total	618,533	100%	187	± 0

Distribution of seats in the cantons

Canton	Total	FDP		SP		CIP		BGB		LdU		LPS		Dem		FSS		JB		FWB		KPS		Front 1		EPP		AVL 2
Aargau	12	2		5	+1	3		2										0	−1
Appenzell Ausserrhoden 3	2	1		1
Appenzell Innerrhoden	1					1
Basel-Country	4th	1	−1	1	−1	1	+1													1	+1
Basel city	7th	1		2	−1	1				2	+2	1										0	−1
Bern	31	5	+1	10	−1	2	+1	10	−1	1								3
Freiburg	7th	2				4th	−1	1	+1
Geneva	8th	3	+1	1	−2	1						1				2	+2							0	−1
Glarus	2	1												4 1
Grisons	6th	1				2	−1							3	+1
Lucerne 3	9	3		1		5
Neuchâtel 3	6th	2		3								1
Nidwalden	1					1
Obwalden	1					1
Schaffhausen	2	1		1
Schwyz 3	3	1				2
Solothurn 3	7th	3		2		2
St. Gallen	13	4th		2		6th	+1			1																		0	−1
Ticino 3	7th	2	−1	1		3								1	+1
Thurgau	6th	1		2		1		2
Uri	1	1
Vaud 3	15th	6th		2	−2			2				3				2	+2
Valais 3	6th	1		1		4th
Train 3	2	1				1
Zurich	28	6th	+1	10	+1	2		5	+1	5												0	−1	0	−1	0	−1
Switzerland	187	49	+1	45	−5	43	+1	22nd	+1	9	+2	6th	± 0	5	+2	4th	+4	3	−1	1	+1	0	−2	0	−2	0	−1	0	−1

¹The parties of the front movement ( Union nationale and Nationale Front ) did not run in 1939.

²"General People's List"; AVL National Councilor Jakob Nüesch ran unsuccessfully in 1939 on the list of the "Bunds Freemokrats" (Democratic Party).

³ silent choice

^4th Hans Trümpy was elected for the DP, but did not join the parliamentary group of DP and young farmers in the National Council, but that of the FDP.

Results of the Council of States elections

The elected members of the Council of States are listed in Federal Gazette No. 48 of November 29, 1939. The second Council of States of the Canton of Zurich was not elected until 1940. Hans Bernhard from the BGB won the seat .

Distribution of seats

3

2

14th

2

19th

3

3 2 14th 2 19th 3 

A total of 43 seats

• SP : 3
• DP : 2
• FDP : 14
• LPS : 2
• KVP : 19
• BGB : 3

Political party	Elections 1939	Elections 1935
PLC	3	3
CIP	19th	19th
LPS	2	2
FDP	14th	15th
DP	2	2
BGB	3	3

Elected Councils of State

Canton	1. Seat of the Council of States	2. Seat of the Council of States
Aargau	Hans Fricker , CIP (previously)	Gottfried Keller , FDP (previously)
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	Walter Ackermann , FDP (new)	only one seat
Appenzell Innerrhoden	Armin Locher , KVP (new)	only one seat
Basel-Country	Walter Schaub , SP (previously)	only one seat
Basel city	Gustav Wenk , SP (previously)	only one seat
Bern	Henri Mouttet , FDP (previously)	Jakob Rudolf Weber , BGB (previously)
Freiburg	Joseph Piller , KVP (previously)	Bernard Weck , KVP (previously)
Geneva	Albert Malche , FDP (previously)	Auguste-Edouard-Frédéric Martin , LPS (previously)
Glarus	Melchior Hefti , DP (new)	Joachim Mercier , FDP (new)
Grisons	Albert Lardelli , DP (so far)	Josef Vieli , KVP (new)
Lucerne	Gotthard Egli , KVP (previously)	Albert Status , CIP (previously)
Neuchâtel	Ernest Béguin , FDP (so far)	Marcel de Coulon , LPS (so far)
Nidwalden	Remigi Joller , CIP (new)	only one seat
Obwalden	Walter Amstalden , CIP (previously)	only one seat
Schaffhausen	Hans Käser , FDP (previously)	Johannes Winzeler , BGB (previously)
Schwyz	Fritz Stähli , CIP (new)	Adolf Suter , KVP (previously)
Solothurn	Iwan Bally , FDP (new)	Paul Häfelin , FDP (new)
St. Gallen	Ernst Löpfe , FDP (previously)	Johann Schmuki , KVP (new)
Ticino	Arnaldo Luigi Bolla , FDP (previously)	Antonio Luigi Riva , KVP (previously)
Thurgau	Paul Altwegg , FDP (previously)	Erich Ullmann , BGB (new)
Uri	Leo Meyer , KVP (previously)	Ludwig Walker , CIP (previously)
Vaud	Norbert Bosset , FDP (previously)	Louis Chamorel , FDP (previously)
Valais	Pierre Barman , KVP (previously)	Raymond Evéquoz , KVP (previously)
train	Alphons Iten , KVP (previously)	Alois Müller , KVP (previously)
Zurich	Emil Klöti , SP (previously)	vacant

Political groups in the 31st legislative period

Political groups are associations of members of one or more parties. The table below shows the status at the beginning of the legislative period.

fraction	total	National Council	Council of States
Radical Democratic Group (FDP) 5	63	51	14th
Catholic Conservatives	61	43	18th
Social democrats	48	45	3
Farmers, trades and citizens' factions	26th	22nd	4th
independent parliamentary group (LdU)	9	9	0
Liberal Democratic Group	8th	6th	2
Free and Democratic Group (DP, JB) 6	6th	6th	0
without party affiliation	8th	5	3

⁵including National Councilor Hans Trümpy (DP, Glarus)

^6th without National Council Trümpy and the two DP Councilors of States Hefti and Lardelli

Web links

• Federal Gazette No. 48 of November 29, 1939 with the results

Individual evidence

1. ^ «National Council elections: distribution of mandates according to parties, 1919–2015»
2. ↑ Table «National Council elections: voter turnout, 1919–2015»
3. ^ Members of the National Council, pages 675–731
4. ↑ National Council elections: distribution of mandates by party and canton. Federal Statistical Office, December 1, 2015, accessed on May 28, 2017 . 
5. ^ Swiss Federal Assembly, database of all council members since 1848, search for "Hans Trümpy"
6. ^ Members of the Council of States, pages 732–734
7. ^ Parliamentary groups since 1912