Swiss parliamentary elections 1959

← 1955General election of
the National Council in 19591963 →

Turnout: 68.5%

 %

30th

20th

10

0

26.38

23.67

23.32

11.56

5.50

2.68

2.33

2.15

1.43

0.98

SP

FDP

KCVP

BGB

LdU

PdA

LPS

DP

EPP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1955

 % p

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

-0.64

+0.37

+0.15

-0.52

+0.02

+0.31

+0.11

± 0.00

+0.35

-0.15

SP

FDP

KCVP

BGB

LdU

PdA

LPS

DP

EPP

Otherwise.

Bundeshaus in Bern:
seat of the Swiss parliament

The Swiss parliamentary elections in 1959 took place on October 25, 1959. All 196 mandates of the National Council and 25 of the 44 mandates in the Council of States were to be reassigned. This 36th legislative period lasted four years until October 1963.

These elections were characterized by a very high level of stability. Neither in the National Council nor in the Council of States have there been any noteworthy shifts. Neither party lost or won more than two seats. The Catholic-Conservatives appeared for the first time under the name "Conservative- Christian-Social People's Party", a sign of their increasing center orientation.

The subsequent Federal Council elections were more remarkable . With the election of the two Social Democratic Councilors of State, Spühler (ZH) and Tschudi (BS), the left was finally integrated into the state government. 1959 thus marked the beginning of the so-called "magic formula". This partisan government composition should remain unchanged until 2003.

In the by-elections in Basel-Stadt and Zurich in 1960, which became so necessary, the Social Democrats lost both seats (to the FDP and BGB, respectively). During the legislature, the Social Democratic Council of States delegation was reduced from four to two.

The average turnout in the National Council elections in 1959 fell below 70% for the first time at 68.5%, with cantonal values ​​between 37.6% in Appenzell Innerrhoden and 85.9% 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.

→ Main article : 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 .

→ Main article : Council of States - electoral process

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 the state level (e.g. SP rounded to 259,139 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. 49 of December 3, 1959.

Parties, voters, seats

There were silent elections in the canton of Appenzell-Ausserrhoden.

The nationwide results were as follows:

3

51

10

2

4th

47

51

5

23

3 51 10 2 4th 47 51 5 23 

196 seats in total

• PdA : 3
• SP : 51
• LdU : 10
• EVP : 2
• DP : 4
• KCVP : 47
• FDP : 51
• LPS : 5
• BGB : 23

Political party	Voters	%	(+/-)	Seats	(+/-)
Social Democratic Party	259,139	26.38%	−0.64%	51	−2
Liberal Democratic Party	232'557	23.67%	+ 0.37%	51	+1
Conservative Christian Social People's Party	229,088	23.32%	+ 0.15%	47	± 0
Farmers, trade and citizens' party	113,611	11.56%	-0.52%	23	+1
National Ring of Independents	54,049	5.50%	+0.02%	10	± 0
Party of labor	26,346	2.68%	+ 0.31%	3	−1
Liberal Party of Switzerland	22,934	2.33%	+ 0.11%	5	± 0
Democratic Party	21,170	2.15%	± 0.00%	4th	± 0
Evangelical People's Party	14'038	1.43%	+ 0.35%	2	+1
Reunification-friendly list campaign Canton Basel (BL)	3,193	0.33%	+ 0.10%	0	± 0
List du mouvement social-des paysans, ouvrier et indépendants (VS) 1	2,074	0.21%	+ 0.01%	0	± 0
Non-partisan List of Christian Citizens (BE)	2'005	0.20%	+ 0.20%	0	± 0
Free voters for the lifting of compulsory voting (AG)	1,682	0.17%	+ 0.17%	0	± 0
Isolated votes in single constituencies	484	0.05%	−0.03%	0	± 0
Total	982,370	100%		196	± 0

¹ in German (analogously): social movement - peasants, workers and non-party members

Distribution of seats in the cantons

Canton	Total	SP		FDP		CIP		BGB		LdU		LPS		Dem		PdA		EPP
Aargau	13	4th		3		3		2		1
Appenzell Ausserrhoden 2	2	1		1
Appenzell Innerrhoden	1					1
Basel-Country	4th	1	−1	1		1		1	+1
Basel city	8th	3	+1	2		1				1		1				0	−1
Bern	33	12	−1	6th		2		11		2	+1
Freiburg	7th	1		1		4th		1
Geneva	8th	1		3		1	−1					1				2	+1
Glarus	2	1		1
Grisons	6th	1	+1	1		2	−1							2
Lucerne	9	0	−1	4th	+1	5
Neuchâtel	5	2		2								1
Nidwalden	1					1
Obwalden	1					1
Schaffhausen	2	1		1
Schwyz	3	1		0	−1	2	+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		6th		1	+1	1				2				1	−1
Valais	7th	1		1		5
train	2			1		1
Zurich	32	9	−1	5	+1	4th		5		5	−1			2				2	+1
Switzerland	196	51	−2	51	+1	47	± 0	23	+1	10	± 0	5	± 0	4th	± 0	3	−1	2	+1

² silent choice

Results of the Council of States elections

The elected members of the Council of States are listed in Federal Gazette No. 49 of December 3, 1959.

Distribution of seats

4th

2

17th

13

3

3

2

4th 2 17th 13 3 3 2 

A total of 44 seats

• SP : 4
• DP : 2
• KCVP : 17
• FDP : 13
• LPS : 3
• BGB : 3
• Independent: 2

Political party	Elections 1959	Elections 1955
PLC	4th	5
KCVP	17th	17th
LPS	3	3
FDP	13	12
DP	2	2
BGB	3	3
independent	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 , KCVP (previously)
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	Walter Ackermann , FDP (previously)	only one seat
Appenzell Innerrhoden	Armin Locher , KCVP (previously)	only one seat
Basel-Country	Emil Müller , SP (previously)	only one seat
Basel city	Hans-Peter Tschudi , SP (new)	only one seat
Bern	Dewet Buri , BGB (new)	Charles Jeanneret , FDP (new)
Freiburg	Jean Bourgknecht , KCVP (new)	Paul Torche , KCVP (previously)
Geneva	Victor Gautier , LPS (previously)	François Perréard , FDP (previously)
Glarus	Heinrich Heer , DP (previously)	Rudolf Stüssi , non-party (previously)
Grisons	Gion Darms , KCVP (new)	Arno Theus , DP (new)
Lucerne	Christian Clavadetscher , FDP (previously)	Peter Müller , KCVP (previously)
Neuchâtel	Jean-Louis Barrelet , FDP (previously)	Sydney de Coulon , LPS (previously)
Nidwalden	Werner Christen , KCVP (previously)	only one seat
Obwalden	Ludwig von Moos , KCVP (previously)	only one seat
Schaffhausen	Ernst Lieb , BGB (previously)	Kurt Schoch , FDP (previously)
Schwyz	Dominik Auf der Maur , KCVP (previously)	Heinrich Oechslin , KCVP (previously)
Solothurn	Gottfried Klaus , SP (previously)	Karl Obrecht , FDP (new)
St. Gallen	Rudolf Mäder , KCVP (new)	Willi Rohner , FDP (previously)
Ticino	Antonio Antognini , KCVP (previously)	Ferruccio Bolla , FDP (new)
Thurgau	Jakob Müller , FDP (previously)	Erich Ullmann , BGB (previously)
Uri	Ludwig Danioth , KCVP (previously)	Emil Wipfli , KCVP (previously)
Vaud	Gabriel Despland , FDP (so far)	Frédéric Fauquex , LPS (previously)
Valais	Leo Guntern , KCVP (new)	Marius Lampert , KCVP (previously)
train	Augustin Lusser , KCVP (previously)	Alois Zehnder , KCVP (previously)
Zurich	Willy Spühler , SP (previously)	Ernst Vaterlaus , FDP (so far)

Political groups in the 36th 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
Radical Democratic Group (FDP)	64	51	13
Conservative-Christian Social Group	64	47	17th
social democratic group	55	51	4th
Farmers, trades and citizens' factions	26th	23	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. 49 of December 3, 1959 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