Swiss parliamentary elections 1955

← 1951General election of
the National Council in 19551959 →

Turnout: 70.1%

 %

30th

20th

10

0

27.02

23.30

23.17

12.08

5.48

2.37

2.22

2.15

1.08

1.13

SP

FDP

CIP

BGB

LdU

PdA

LPS

DP

EPP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1951

 % p

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

+1.03

-0.69

+0.64

-0.49

+0.37

-0.30

-0.36

-0.10

+0.09

-0.19

SP

FDP

CIP

BGB

LdU

PdA

LPS

DP

EPP

Otherwise.

Bundeshaus in Bern:
seat of the Swiss parliament

The Swiss parliamentary elections in 1955 took place on October 30, 1955. All 196 mandates of the National Council and 25 of the 44 mandates in the Council of States were to be reassigned. This 35th legislative period lasted four years until October 1959.

In these elections there were only minor shifts in both the National Council and the Council of States. The increase was most evident among the Social Democrats , who won four seats in the National Council. The free economists last competed as a serious force in national elections.

The average turnout in the National Council elections in 1955 fell slightly to 70.1%, with cantonal values ​​between 37.4% in Appenzell Innerrhoden and 87.7% in Lucerne.

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 as so-called “additional votes” to the list he has elected. 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 state level (e.g. SP rounded to 263,664 voters). An Aargau “voter” can also consist of 13 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 December 1, 1955.

Parties, voters, seats

There were silent elections in the cantons of Glarus and Schaffhausen.

The nationwide results were as follows:

4th

53

10

1

4th

50

5

47

22nd

4th 53 10 1 4th 50 5 47 22nd 

196 seats in total

• PdA : 4
• SP : 53
• LdU : 10
• EVP : 1
• DP : 4
• FDP : 50
• LPS : 5
• KVP : 47
• BGB : 22

Political party	Voters	%	(+/-)	Seats	(+/-)
Social Democratic Party	263,664	27.02%	+1.03%	53	+4
Liberal Democratic Party	227,370	23.30%	−0.69%	50	−1
Conservative People's Party	226,122	23.17%	+0.64%	47	−1
Farmers, trade and citizens' party	117,847	12.08%	−0.49%	22nd	−1
National Ring of Independents	53,450	5.48%	+ 0.37%	10	± 0
Party of labor	23,110	2.37%	−0.30%	4th	−1
Liberal Party of Switzerland	21,688	2.22%	−0.36%	5	± 0
Democratic Party	21,003	2.15%	−0.10%	4th	± 0
Evangelical People's Party	10,581	1.08%	+0.09%	1	± 0
Liberal Socialist Party (ZH)	3,471	0.36%	−0.49%	0	± 0
Reunification List Campaign Canton Basel (BL)	2,293	0.23%	± 0.00%	0	± 0
Parti progressiste (Independent Communists) (GE) 1	1,950	0.20%	+ 0.20%	0	± 0
List du mouvement social-paysan indépendant (VS) 2	1,915	0.20%	+ 0.20%	0	± 0
Peasants, Trade and Workers' Party (LU)	484	0.05%	+ 0.05%	0	± 0
Union fédérale indépendante (GE) 3	151	0.02%	+0.02%	0	± 0
Isolated votes in single constituencies	796	0.08%	+ 0.05%	0	± 0
Total	975,895	100%		196	± 0

¹ in German (analogously): Progressive Party

² in German (analogously): social movement - independent farmers

³ in German (by analogy): Independent Federal / Eidgenössische Union

Distribution of seats in the cantons

Canton	Total	SP		FDP		CIP		BGB		LdU		LPS		PdA		Dem		EPP
Aargau	13	4th		3		3	−1	2		1	+1
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	2	1		1
Appenzell Innerrhoden	1					1
Basel-Country	4th	2	+1	1		1		0	−1
Basel city	8th	2		2		1				1		1		1
Bern	33	13	+1	6th		2		11		1	−1
Freiburg	7th	1		1		4th		1
Geneva	8th	1		3		2	+1					1		1	−1
Glarus 2	2	1		1
Grisons	6th			1		3										2
Lucerne	9	1		3		5
Neuchâtel	5	2		2								1
Nidwalden	1					1
Obwalden	1					1
Schaffhausen 4	2	1		1
Schwyz	3	1		1	+1	1	−1
Solothurn	7th	2		3		2
St. Gallen	13	2		4th		6th				1
Ticino	7th	1		3		3
Thurgau	6th	2		1		1		2
Uri	1			1
Vaud	16	5	+1	6th	−1	0	−1	1				2		2	+1
Valais	7th	1		1		5
train	2			1		1
Zurich	32	10	+1	4th	−1	4th	+1	5		6th				0	−1	2		1
Switzerland	196	53	+4	50	−1	47	−1	22nd	−1	10	± 0	5	± 0	4th	−1	4th	± 0	1	± 0

^4th silent choice

Results of the Council of States elections

The elected members of the Council of States are listed in Federal Gazette No. 48 of December 1, 1955.

Distribution of seats

5

2

12

3

17th

3

2

5 2 12 3 17th 3 2 

A total of 44 seats

• SP : 5
• DP : 2
• FDP : 12
• LPS : 3
• KVP : 17
• BGB : 3
• Independent: 2

Political party	Elections 1955	Elections 1951
PLC	5	4th
CIP	17th	18th
LPS	3	3
FDP	12	12
DP	2	2
BGB	3	3
Otherwise.	2	2

Elected Councils of State

Canton	1. Seat of the Council of States	2. Seat of the Council of States
Aargau	Ernst Speiser , FDP (previously)	Xaver Stöckli , CIP (new)
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	Walter Ackermann , FDP (previously)	only one seat
Appenzell Innerrhoden	Armin Locher , KVP (previously)	only one seat
Basel-Country	Emil Müller , SP (new)	only one seat
Basel city	Gustav Wenk , SP (previously)	only one seat
Bern	Georges Möckli , SP (previously)	Jakob Rudolf Weber , BGB (previously)
Freiburg	Maxim Quartenoud , CIP (previously)	Paul Torche , KVP (new)
Geneva	Victor Gautier , LPS (new)	François Perréard , FDP (new)
Glarus	Heinrich Heer , DP (new)	Rudolf Stüssi , non-party (previously)
Grisons	Albert Lardelli , DP (so far)	Josef Vieli , KVP (previously)
Lucerne	Christian Clavadetscher , FDP (new)	Peter Müller , CIP (new)
Neuchâtel	Jean-Louis Barrelet , FDP (previously)	Sydney de Coulon , LPS (previously)
Nidwalden	Werner Christen , non-party (previously)	only one seat
Obwalden	Ludwig von Moos , KVP (previously)	only one seat
Schaffhausen	Ernst Lieb , BGB (previously)	Kurt Schoch , FDP (previously)
Schwyz	Dominik Auf der Maur , KVP (previously)	Fritz Stähli , KVP (previously)
Solothurn	Paul Häfelin , FDP (previously)	Gottfried Klaus , SP (previously)
St. Gallen	Willi Rohner , FDP (new)	Johann Schmuki , KVP (previously)
Ticino	Antonio Antognini , KVP (previously)	Bixio Bossi , FDP (previously)
Thurgau	Jakob Müller , FDP (new)	Erich Ullmann , BGB (previously)
Uri	Ludwig Danioth , KVP (previously)	Emil Wipfli , KVP (new)
Vaud	Gabriel Despland , FDP (so far)	Frédéric Fauquex , LPS (previously)
Valais	Marius Lampert , KVP (new)	Joseph Moulin , KVP (new)
train	Augustin Lusser , KVP (previously)	Alois Zehnder , CIP (previously)
Zurich	Willy Spühler , SP (new)	Ernst Vaterlaus , FDP (so far)

Political groups in the 35th 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 Conservative Group	64	47	17th
Radical Democratic Group (FDP)	62	50	12
social democratic group	58	53	5
Farmers, trades and citizens' factions	25th	22nd	3
Fraction of the state ring	10	10	0
Liberal Democratic Group	8th	5	3
Democratic and Protestant parliamentary groups	7th	5	2
without party affiliation	6th	4th	2

Web links

• Federal Gazette No. 48 of December 1, 1955 with the results

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Table «National Council elections: voter turnout, 1919–2015»
2. ^ Members of the National Council, pages 1147-1233
3. ^ Members of the Council of States, pages 1234–1236
4. ^ Parliamentary groups since 1912