Swiss parliamentary elections 1943

← 1939General election of
the National Council in 19431947 →

Turnout: 70.0%

 %

30th

20th

10

0

28.60

22.48

20.79

11.59

4.73

3.37

3.23

2.08

1.03

2.09

SP

FDP

CIP

BGB

LdU

DP

LPS

JB

FWB

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to

 % p

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

+2.67

+1.76

+3.81

-3.15

-2.34

+0.64

+1.57

-2.40

-0.73

-1.84

SP

FDP

CIP

BGB

LdU

DP

LPS

JB

FWB

Otherwise.

Bundeshaus in Bern:
seat of the Swiss parliament

The Swiss parliamentary elections in 1943 took place on October 31, 1943. All 194 mandates of the National Council and 25 of the 44 mandates in the Council of States were to be newly awarded. This 32nd legislative period lasted four years until October 1947.

Based on the census results of 1941, 194 instead of 187 seats were awarded in the National Council. Communist parties were not allowed in these elections because the Federal Council had banned the KPS and FSS (as well as the National Socialist fronts ).

These World War II elections were marked by massive wins by the Social Democrats. They won 11 additional seats in the National Council and achieved the best result in their party history with a voter share of almost 29% (as of 2016). A smaller election winner was the Liberal Party of Switzerland with two additional mandates. The main loser was the Landesring . In the cantons of Baselland and Schwyz, two parties firmly anchored in the peasantry won a mandate from the National Council; in the canton of Zurich, the LdU was split off from the law.

In the Council of States, too, the SP was able to gain two to five seats. In contrast, the FDP lost 2 of its 14 mandates. The two Councils of State elected as Democrats joined the Democratic Group this time (to which the young farmers no longer belonged). Due to the free-spirited losses in both chambers, the CIP was the strongest parliamentary group in the Federal Assembly for the first time (national and Council of States seats combined).

The average turnout in the 1943 National Council elections was 70.0%, with cantonal values ​​between 45.3% in Uri and 90.0% in Schaffhausen.

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 251,576 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. 24 of November 25, 1943.

Parties, voters, seats

A comparison of the voting shares with the previous elections does not make sense, as there were silent elections in nine cantons in 1939 (in 1943 this was only the case in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden).

The nationwide results were as follows:

56

6th

1

6th

1

47

8th

43

22nd

1

3

56 6th 1 6th 1 47 8th 43 22nd 1 3 

A total of 194 seats

• SP : 56
• LdU : 6
• UFL : 1
• DP (including FDV BL): 6
• EVP : 1
• FDP : 47
• LPS : 8
• KVP : 43
• BGB : 22
• BV : 1
• JB : 3

Political party	Voters	%	Seats	(+/-)
Social Democratic Party	251,576	28.60%	56	+11
Liberal Democratic Party 1	197,746	22.48%	47	−2
Conservative People's Party	182,916	20.79%	43	± 0
Farmers, trade and citizens' party	101,998	11.59%	22nd	± 0
National Ring of Independents	41,635	4.73%	6th	−3
Democratic Party 1	29,627	3.37%	5	± 0
Liberal Party of Switzerland	28'434	3.23%	8th	+2
Young farmers movement	18,310	2.08%	3	± 0
Swiss Free Trade Association (ZH, BE, BS)	9,031	1.03%	0	−1
Farmers' Association (SZ)	4,082	0.46%	1	+1
Independent Free List (ZH) 2	6,922	0.79%	1	+1
Evangelical People's Party	3,627	0.41%	1	+1
Baselbieter Peasant Party, EPP, Free Democratic Association Baselland, non-party (BL)	3,207	0.36%	3 1	+1
Travailliste list (VD) 4	387	0.04%	0	± 0
Isolated votes in single constituencies	242	0.03%	0	± 0
Total	879,740	100%	194	+7

¹In 1941, the Democratic Party of the Canton of Zurich converted from the FDP to DP Switzerland. The DP Zurich won two seats in 1939.

²Legal separation of the state ring, the elected Heinrich Schnyder did not join the LdU parliamentary group even after the elections.

³ The elected National Council belonged to the "Free Democratic Association" and joined the Democratic Group in the National Council

^4th in German: Workers List

Distribution of seats in the cantons

Canton	Total	SP		FDP		CIP		BGB		LPS		LdU		The 5th		JB		EPP		BV 6		UFL 7		FSS 8		FWB
Aargau	12	5		2		3		2
Appenzell Ausserrhoden 9	2	1		1
Appenzell Innerrhoden	1					1
Basel-Country	4th	2	+1	1		0	−1							1	+1											0	−1
Basel city	8th	3	+1	1		1				2	+1	1	−1
Bern	33	13	+3	5		2		11	+1			0	−1			2	−1
Freiburg	7th	1	+1	1	−1	5	+1	0	−1
Geneva	8th	1		3		2	+1			2	+1													0	−2
Glarus	2	1	+1	1										0	−1
Grisons	6th			1		2								3
Lucerne	9	1		3		5
Neuchâtel	5	2	−1	2						1
Nidwalden	1					1
Obwalden	1					1
Schaffhausen	2	1		1
Schwyz	3			1		1	−1													1	+1
Solothurn	7th	2		3		2
St. Gallen	13	2		4th		5	−1					1				1	+1
Ticino	7th	2	+1	2		3								0	−1
Thurgau	6th	2		1		1		2
Uri	1			1
Vaud	16	3	+1	8th	+2			2		3														0	−2
Valais	7th	1		1		5	+1
train	2	1	+1	0	−1	1
Zurich	31	12	+2	4th	10 -2	2		5				4th	−1	10 2	+2			1	+1			1	+1
Switzerland	194	56	+11	47	−2	43	± 0	22nd	± 0	8th	+2	6th	−3	6th	+1	3	± 0	1	+1	1	+1	1	+1	0	−4	0	−1

⁵ incl. "Free Democratic Association" (Canton Basel-Land)

^6th Farmers' Association of the Canton of Schwyz

^7th Independent-Free List (legal split from LdU)

^8th The FSS had been banned by the Federal Council

⁹ silent choice

¹⁰In 1941, the Democratic Party of the Canton of Zurich converted from the FDP to DP Switzerland. In fact, both FP Zurich (4) and DP Zurich (2) were able to maintain their number of seats in 1943.

Results of the Council of States elections

The elected members of the Council of States are listed in Federal Gazette No. 24 of November 25, 1943.

Distribution of seats

5

2

12

2

19th

4th

5 2 12 2 19th 4th 

A total of 44 seats

• SP : 5
• DP : 2
• FDP : 12
• LPS : 2
• KVP : 19
• BGB : 4

Political party	Elections 1943	Elections 1939
PLC	5	3
CIP	19th	19th
LPS	2	2
FDP	12	14th
DP	2	2
BGB	4th	3

Elected Councils of State

Canton	1. Seat of the Council of States	2. Seat of the Council of States
Aargau	Hans Fricker , CIP (new)	Karl Killer , SP (new)
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	Walter Ackermann , FDP (previously)	only one seat
Appenzell Innerrhoden	Armin Locher , KVP (previously)	only one seat
Basel-Country	Walter Schaub , SP (new)	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)	Albert-Gustave Pictet , LPS (new)
Glarus	Melchior Hefti , DP (so far)	Joachim Mercier , FDP (previously)
Grisons	Albert Lardelli , DP (so far)	Josef Vieli , KVP (previously)
Lucerne	Gotthard Egli , KVP (previously)	Franz-Karl Status , CIP (new)
Neuchâtel	Marcel de Coulon , LPS (so far)	Max-Edouard Petitpierre , FDP (new)
Nidwalden	Remigi Joller , KVP (previously)	only one seat
Obwalden	Ludwig von Moos , CIP (new)	only one seat
Schaffhausen	Julius Bührer , FDP (new)	Johannes Winzeler , BGB (previously)
Schwyz	Fritz Stähli , KVP (previously)	Adolf Suter , KVP (previously)
Solothurn	Paul Häfelin , FDP (previously)	Gottfried Klaus , SP (new)
St. Gallen	Ernst Löpfe , FDP (previously)	Johann Schmuki , KVP (previously)
Ticino	Antonio Antognini , KVP (new)	Bixio Bossi , FDP (new)
Thurgau	Paul Altwegg , FDP (previously)	Erich Ullmann , BGB (previously)
Uri	Leo Meyer , KVP (previously)	Ludwig Walker , CIP (previously)
Vaud	Norbert Bosset , FDP (previously)	Gabriel Despland , FDP (new)
Valais	Victor Petrig , KVP (new)	Maurice Troillet , KVP (new)
train	Alphons Iten , KVP (previously)	Augustin Lusser , CIP (new)
Zurich	Emil Klöti , SP (previously)	Friedrich Traugott Elections , BGB (new)

Political groups in the 32nd legislative period

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

fraction	total	National Council	Council of States
Catholic Conservatives	62	43	19th
Social democrats	61	56	5
Radical Democrats (FDP)	59	47	12
Farmers, trades and citizens' factions	26th	22nd	4th
Liberal Democratic Group	10	8th	2
Democratic Group	8th	6th	2
Fraction of the state ring	7th	7th	0
without party affiliation	7th	7th	0

Web links

• Federal Gazette No. 24 of November 25, 1943 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 1077–1157
4. ↑ https://www.parlament.ch/de/biografie?CouncillorId=606
5. ^ Members of the Council of States, pages 1158–1160
6. ^ Parliamentary groups since 1912