Elections in the canton of St. Gallen in 2012
In the elections in the canton of St. Gallen in 2012 , the 120 seats in the cantonal council and the seven seats in the cantonal government were re-elected on March 11, 2012. The Social Democrats and the Green Liberals emerged victorious from the election of the Cantonal Council, each winning four additional seats, while the Swiss People's Party (minus six seats) and the Christian Democrats (minus four seats) recorded losses . All previous candidates were re-elected in the government council elections. For the two vacant seats, Martin Klöti (FDP) was elected in the first ballot , in the second ballot on April 29, 2012, Fredy Fässler (SP) defeated Michael Götte (SVP). The social democrat Fredy Fässler succeeded his party colleague Kathrin Hilber .
Starting position
Cantonal elections 2008
| Cantonal elections in 2008 |
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The last renewal election of the Cantonal Council took place on March 16, 2008. As part of an austerity package, the number of seats in the cantonal parliament was reduced from 180 to 120 in the previous legislature. A comparison of the number of seats is therefore only possible to a limited extent; for the comparison here, the voting shares in the 2004 elections were converted to the number of seats 120 (see graphic on the right) .
The Swiss People's Party (SVP) achieved a historically high result in the cantonal council elections . It reached 41 seats and replaced the Christian Democrats as the strongest party. They lost four seats and now have 33. The Social Democrats only achieved 16 seats, that is, lost seven compared to the 2004 elections, and fell behind the FDP.
There were twelve candidates for the seven seats in government. In the first ballot on March 16, 2008, five seats were chosen. Two more seats were awarded on May 4, 2008 in the second ballot.
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| candidate | Political party | be right | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Gehrer | CVP | 51,586 | 46.0% | |
| Stefan Koelliker | SVP | 41,590 | 37.1% | |
| including: not elected | ||||
| Andreas Hartmann | FDP | 37,421 | 33.4% | |
| Yvonne Gilli | GREEN | 30,393 | 27.1% | |
| and other candidates | ||||
National parliamentary elections 2011
the National Council in 2011
(-4.28 % p )
(-1.12 % p )
(+1.96 % p )
(-1.38 % p )
(+ 0.04 % p )
( n. K. )
(+ 2.84 % p )
(+0.02 % p )
A few months before the cantonal elections, the federal parliamentary elections were held on October 23, 2011 . In the National Council elections, the Bourgeois Democratic Party ran its own list. A list connection took place between the SP and the Greens, between the SVP and the Federal Democratic Union . On election day, the SP was the only party in the Federal Council to increase its share of the vote alongside the “ New Central Parties”. The SVP had to record massive voter losses, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals a little less. As a result, the seats were shifted: The SVP was unable to hold the seat it won during the last legislature when Thomas Müller (CVP) changed parties. The SVP lost another seat to the Green Liberal Party .
There was a similar shift in power in the elections to the Council of States: Among the previous Council of States, the liberal Erika Forster-Vannini announced that she would no longer stand as a candidate. In addition to the previous Christian Democrat Eugen David , the incumbent government councilor of the canton of St. Gallen Karin Keller-Sutter , the union president and long-time National Councilor Paul Rechsteiner , SVP Switzerland President and National Councilor Toni Brunner and others announced their candidacy. In the first ballot, Keller-Sutter was clearly elected with 101,181 votes (64.6%). David announced that he would no longer run in the second ballot. In the week after the elections to the Council of States, the SVP nominated its party president Toni Brunner again, Michael Hüppi was nominated for the Christian Democrats, and Paul Rechsteiner was nominated again for the Social Democrats.
There was a debate in the run-up to the second ballot because Toni Brunner, as party president, is often referred to as a right-wing demagogue. In the 2007 elections to the Council of States, there was also a second ballot, where the Social Democrats withdrew their candidate Kathrin Hilber and supported the Christian Democrat David to prevent Brunner from being elected. A similar situation was expected of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats: Both wanted to face Brunner alone. When both parties did not withdraw their candidacies, the media discussed who Brunner's election worker was. On November 27, 2011 , Rechsteiner was finally elected. In the media his choice was described as "historic".
Campaign issues
The canton's finances were a major issue in the election campaign. Two austerity packages were passed in the 2008–2012 legislature. In the first austerity package in autumn 2011, the Cantonal Council decided to save around 140 million francs. A referendum with around 8,000 signatures was submitted by organizations for the disabled and the SP against a savings point, which provided for savings in supplementary benefits for home residents . In February 2012, the Cantonal Council passed another austerity package worth around CHF 200 million. The bourgeois parties justified this decision with the growing expenditure and the resulting deficits, the left-green parliamentary groups rejected this decision because, from their point of view, the tax cuts in 2007 were due to the poor situation of the canton's finances. In a study, the BAK Basel defended the austerity packages, but also described the 2007 tax cuts as “sporty”.
The education director and government councilor Stefan Kölliker was criticized by the cantonal teachers' association for a planned workload reduction. Teachers criticized his planned workload reduction because it only affects full-time employees. In a press release, the teachers' association therefore called for a new director of education and described Kölliker as “unsustainable”. The SVP described the criticism as "populist" and "campaign tactics".
All parties agreed on the proposal of the two Councilors of States Paul Rechsteiner and Karin Keller-Sutter to expand the railway network in Eastern Switzerland and to connect it internationally. In their proposal “Bodensee-Rheintal Y” they called for the Rhine Valley route to be upgraded to a high-speed line and for the connections between St. Gallen , Sargans and Germany to be improved .
Cantonal election
Electoral process
The canton council, the legislative representation of the population in the canton of St. Gallen, is re-elected every four years. The 120 seats are elected in the eight constituencies , the number of seats per district being proportional to the number of residents. The decisive factor for the distribution of seats is the population statistics from January 1, 2010. Compared to the population statistics from January 1, 2006, which were relevant for the 2008 elections, the Toggenburg constituency lost one seat to the See-Gaster constituency :
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The election takes place in each constituency according to the proportional representation right . Parties, political groups and individuals can run on election lists. Each electoral list contains as many candidates as there are seats to be allocated, whereby a candidate may appear on the list a maximum of two times. List connections are only permitted as sub- list connections . Usually this is only the case with different lists from the same party. Voters can vote for as many people as there are seats in the constituency, with variegation and cumulation (a maximum of two votes for one candidate) being possible.
Candidacies
Since the election of the Cantonal Council takes place in the constituencies, candidacies are organized by the respective district parties. The cantonal department of the interior informed the parties in April 2011 about the organization of the cantonal elections: They will take place on March 11, 2012, the lists had to be submitted by January 9, 2012. This invitation was accepted by 797 people on 68 lists: the four governing parties Christian Democratic People's Party , FDP, the Liberals , Social Democratic Party and Swiss People's Party compete in all constituencies with at least one list.
The Green Party is running in all constituencies except in Werdenberg. In the See-Gaster district they are running under the name "UGS - independent, green, social", in the Sarganserland district they make the list "SP, trade unions and GREENS" together with the SP. The Green Liberals are running in six constituencies (St. Gallen, Rheintal, Wil, Toggenburg, See-Gaster and Sarganserland). The bourgeois-democratic party is running for the first time in the cantonal elections: it is running its own list in three districts (St. Gallen, See-Gaster, Toggenburg, Wil); The new". The newly founded Pirate Party is running with seven candidates in the St. Gallen district and three candidates in the Wil district. The Swiss Democrats are running with four candidates in the St. Gallen district. A singles list under the name "ReAbility - No longer without us!" can also be selected in the See-Gaster district.
Results
| Political party | 2008 elections | Elections 2012 prov. Final result |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voters | proportion of | Seats | Voters | proportion of | Change +/- |
Seats | Change +/- |
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| Swiss People's Party | 30,898 | 30.5% | 41 | 27'449 | 25.5% | -5.0% | 35 | –6 |
| Christian Democratic People's Party | 26'415 | 26.1% | 33 | 24,740 | 23.0% | -3.1% | 29 | -4 |
| FDP The Liberals | 18,514 | 18.3% | 23 | 19,635 | 18.3% | ± 0.0% | 22nd | -1 |
| Social Democratic Party | 14,840 | 13.3% | 16 | 17,267 | 16.1% | + 2.8% | 20th | +4 |
| Green Liberal Party | 2789 | 2.4% | 1 | 5560 | 5.2% | + 2.8% | 5 | +4 |
| Green party | 4849 | 4.8% | 4th | 6291 | 5.9% | +1.1% | 5 | +1 |
| Bourgeois Democratic Party | 2,876 | 2.7% | + 2.7% | 2 | +2 | |||
| Evangelical People's Party | 1893 | 2.0% | 2 | 2249 | 2.1% | + 0.1% | 2 | ± 0 |
| Swiss democrats | 175 | 0.3% | 0 | 73 | 0.1% | -0.2% | 0 | |
| Federal Democratic Union | 89 | 0.2% | 0 | 714 | 0.7% | + 0.5% | 0 | |
| Pirate party | 562 | 0.5% | + 0.5% | 0 | ||||
Government council election
| candidate | Political party | be right | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Gehrer (previously) | CVP | 86,871 | 70.2% | |
| Willi Haag (previously) | FDP | 86,674 | 70.0% | |
| Benedikt Würth (previously) | CVP | 85,759 | 69.3% | |
| Heidi Hanselmann (previously) | SP | 84,375 | 68.2% | |
| Martin Klöti | FDP | 72,254 | 58.4% | |
| Stefan Kölliker (previously) | SVP | 63,523 | 51.3% | |
| including: Absolute more of 61,876 not achieved | ||||
| Fredy Fassler | SP | 58,923 | 47.6% | |
| Michael Gotte | SVP | 53,071 | 42.9% | |
| Isolated | 3,069 | 12.5% | ||
The canton's seven-member executive , the government council, will also be re-elected on March 11, 2012. Five previous members of the government - Martin Gehrer (CVP), Willi Haag (FDP), Heidi Hanselmann (SP), Stefan Kölliker (SVP), Benedikt Würth (CVP) - have announced their re-candidacy. The liberal Karin Keller-Sutter will no longer run in the elections because she was elected to the Council of States on October 23, 2011 . The social democrat Kathrin Hilber is no longer running after 16 years in office. For the two vacant seats, the FDP nominated Arbon mayor Martin Klöti , the SP nominated the St. Gallen lawyer and former cantonal parliamentary group president Fredy Fässler . The SVP wants to win a second seat in the government with the cantonal councilor Michael Götte .
In the first ballot, which took place together with the elections to the Cantonal Council on March 11, 2012, the turnout was 42.3 percent. All previous councilors were re-elected. Martin Klöti was elected to replace the resigned government councilor Karin Keller-Suter . The previous Director of Education, Stefan Kölliker , was only just re-elected. The Social Democrat Fredy Fässler just missed the absolute plus .
In order to occupy the seventh seat, the second ballot took place on April 29, 2012. The Social Democrats with Fässler, the SVP with Götte, announced the re-candidacy. The 19-year-old non-party apprentice Thimo Forrer also announced his candidacy. Shortly after the first ballot on March 11, 2012, the CVP discussed internally whether it should put up its own candidate. An own candidacy was controversial within the party, although the parliamentary group president of the CVP offered himself as a candidate and a candidacy of the CVP national councilor Lucrezia Meier-Schatz was discussed. At the delegates' meeting on March 15, 2012, the CVP did not nominate any candidates and did not recommend either Fredy Fässler or Michael Götte for election. The Green Liberal Party also did not recommend a candidate; the Liberals recommended Michael Götte for election in order to create “clear power relations” in the government.
| candidate | Political party | be right | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fredy Fässler (elected) | SP | 46,629 | 49.2% | |
| Michael Gotte | SVP | 42,859 | 45.2% | |
| Thimo Forrer | independent | 4,786 | 5.0% | |
| Isolated | 535 | 0.6% | ||
In the elections on April 29, 2012, the Social Democrat Fredy Fässler won with 46,629 votes. Michael Götte with 42,859 votes and Thimo Forrer with 4,786 votes were not elected. The turnout was 31.57 percent.
Web links
- Government council elections on the website of the canton of St. Gallen
- Cantonal council elections on the website of the canton of St. Gallen
Individual evidence
- ↑ tagesanzeiger.ch: landslide victory for the SVP in St. Gallen ( memento from July 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ calculated on the basis of the valid ballot papers Election minutes Election of the members of the government Election day: March 16, 2008 ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ news.ch - In government council elections in St. Gallen, previous ones are ahead - parliament, votes / elections, domestic
- ↑ calculated on the basis of the number of valid ballot papers (112'192 or 112'193), this was derived from the absolute majority according to the 2008 government elections ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. recalculated
- ↑ tagblatt.ch: SP threatens the seat of Eugen David
- ↑ tagblatt.ch: Keller-Suter has been elected - David withdraws
- ↑ tagblatt.ch: CVP with Hüppi, SP again with Rechsteiner
- ↑ a b tagblatt.ch: "Rechsteiner has no prospect of success"
- ↑ tagesanzeiger.ch: SP and CVP make Brunner a favorite
- ↑ tagblatt.ch: Today everything is historical
- ↑ tagesanzeiger.ch: Historic SP election victory in St. Gallen
- ↑ a b tagblatt.ch: Canton St.Gallen puts together a 200 million savings package
- ↑ tagblatt.ch: "Soon dependent on alms"
- ↑ svp-sg.ch: SVP condemned populist attacks on teachers' union CNM Governing Kolliker fiercely ( Memento of the original dated 3 March 2012 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ drs.ch: A capital Y for the east
- ↑ sg.ch: Cantonal Council: Allocation of seats according to constituencies according to the canton's constitution ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 38 kB)
- ↑ tagblatt.ch: 805 it pushes politics
- ↑ calculated on the basis of the valid ballot papers election protocol Election of the members of the government Election day: 11.03.2012 ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ blick.ch: Kathrin Hilber leaves after 16 years in office
- ↑ drs1.ch: 2nd ballot in St. Gallen completely open ( Memento from July 29, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ drs1.ch: Ammat is interested in the government council office ( memento from July 24, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ drs1.ch: "The CVP would only have a chance with Lucrezia Meier-Schatz" ( Memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ drs1.ch: No candidate was able to win CVP over ( memento from July 24, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ drs1.ch: GLP waives candidacy and recommendation ( Memento from August 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ drs1.ch: FDP supports SVP candidate Michael Götte ( Memento from July 28, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ calculated on the basis of the valid ballot papers Election protocol Election of a member of the government, 2nd ballot Election day: April 29, 2012 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ sg.ch: Election results of the government council election ( memento of the original from March 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
