Elections in the Canton of Zurich 2019

Zurich government council elections on March 24, 2019
candidate		% of the abs. More
Mario Fehr (SP)	167.60
Jacqueline Fehr (SP)	144.26
Ernst Stocker (SVP)	136.37
Silvia Steiner (CVP)	131.08
Carmen Walker Späh (FDP)	122.13
Martin Neukom (GPS)	117.87
Natalie Rickli (SVP)	112.33
Thomas Vogel (FDP)	106.06
Jörg Mäder (glp)	90.74
Walter Angst (AL)	79.10
Rosmarie Quadranti (BDP)	50.97
Hanspeter Hugentobler (EPP)	40.50
Hans Egli (EDU)	22.93
Jan Linhart (independent)	7.03
Preliminary final result

The elections in the Canton of Zurich in 2019 took place on March 24, 2019. The 180 mandates of the Cantonal Council and the seven members of the Government Council were newly elected.

The five previous members of the government, Mario Fehr , Jacqueline Fehr (both SP ), Ernst Stocker ( SVP ), Silvia Steiner ( CVP ) and Carmen Walker Späh ( FDP ), were re-elected without any problems. Also new are Martin Neukom ( Green ) and Natalie Rickli (SVP) selected.

In the Cantonal Council there was a clear strengthening of the ecological forces (Greens and GLP ), while the SVP suffered heavy losses. The BDP failed to return to the cantonal council.

Electoral process

Cantonal Council

The cantonal council (legislature) has 180 seats, which are re-elected every four years. Proportional suffrage is used in the 18 constituencies . With the double proportional allocation procedure ("double Pukelsheim") the seats are first allocated to the lists according to the total cantonal result (upper allocation) and the seats obtained are then allocated to the constituencies (sub allocation). To participate in the distribution of seats, a party must reach the five percent threshold in at least one constituency .

In each constituency, the nominations (lists) may contain a maximum of as many candidates as there are seats to be allocated. Each candidate may appear on a list a maximum of two times. Each voter can also vote as many candidates as there are seats to be allocated and give a candidate a maximum of two votes by spreading and cumulating . Each vote for a candidate counts first as a party vote for the allocation of seats to the parties and then as a vote for the candidate in the allocation of seats to the party candidates. Each nomination must be signed by at least 30 eligible voters.

Lists that come from different constituencies and have the same name are treated as a list group, the overall result of which is used for the overall allocation. List connections are excluded.

Constituency number	Constituency name	Number of representatives (change)
I.	Zurich, districts 1 and 2	05 (+1)
II	Zurich, districts 3 and 9	12
III	Zurich, districts 4 and 5	05
IV	Zurich, districts 6 and 10	09
V	Zurich, districts 7 and 8	06th
VI	Zurich, districts 11 and 12	12
VII	Dietikon	11
VIII	Affoltern	06th
IX	Horgen	15th
X	miles	12 (−1)
XI	Hinwil	11 (−1)
XII	Uster	16
XIII	Pfaffikon	07th
XIV	City of Winterthur	13
XV	Winterthur country	07th
XVI	Andelfingen	04th
XVII	Bulach	18 (+1)
XVIII	Dielsdorf	11

Government Council

The government council (executive branch) has seven seats, which are also re-elected every four years. The government council election always takes place at the same time as the cantonal council election. The seats are awarded according to majority voting. Those candidates who have achieved an absolute majority (number of votes divided by twice the number of seats) are elected in the first ballot. If this applies to more candidates than there are seats available, the seven candidates with the highest number of votes are elected. If not all seats are occupied in the first ballot, a second ballot takes place in which the relative majority applies, i.e. the candidates with the highest number of votes are elected.

Starting position

Cantonal elections in Zurich on April 12, 2015

Share of voters in percent

%

40

30th

20th

10

0

30.0

19.7

17.3

7.6

7.2

4.9

4.3

3.0

2.7

2.6

Gains and losses

compared to 2011

% p

6th

4th

2

0

-2

-4

+0.4

+4.4

-2.7

-3.4

± 0.0

+0.5

+1.4

+0.1

-0.9

5

13

36

14th

8th

9

5

31

54

5

5 13 36 14th 8th 9 5 31 54 5

A total of 180 seats

AL : 5
GPS : 13
SP : 36
glp : 14
EVP : 8
CVP : 9
BDP : 5
FDP : 31
SVP : 54
EDU : 5

In the last cantonal elections on April 12, 2015, the two largest parties, the SVP and the SP, were able to maintain their share of the vote, while the FDP was able to grow strongly, especially at the expense of the Greens and the glp . Of the smaller parties, the AL in particular was able to gain slightly. The election was then interpreted as a slide to the right. The Zurich elections were an important yardstick for the national elections in autumn, which actually led to a slide to the right.

In the government council elections , the previous councilors Thomas Heiniger (FDP), Mario Fehr (SP), Ernst Stocker and Markus Kägi (both SVP) were able to defend their seats while the green government councilor Martin Graf surprisingly lost his seat despite achieving an absolute majority. The "Carlos" case was considered decisive for his voting out. Silvia Steiner (CVP), Carmen Walker Späh (FDP) and Jacqueline Fehr (SP) were newly elected . The CVP was thus able to regain its seat, which it had lost in 2011 to the Greens.

Government council elections on April 12, 2015
candidate	Political party	be right	% of the abs. More	Result
Thomas Heiniger (previously)	FDP	150,557	165.65%	elected
Mario Fehr (previously)	SP	146,307	160.98%	elected
Ernst Stocker (previously)	SVP	145,205	159.76%	elected
Markus Kägi (previously)	SVP	136,563	150.25%	elected
Silvia Steiner	CVP	118'477	130.35%	elected
Carmen Walker Spah	FDP	116,058	127.69%	elected
Jacqueline Fehr	SP	115,618	127.21%	elected
Martin Graf	Green	109,625	120.62%
Markus Bischoff	AL	67,103	73.83%
Nik Gugger	EPP	42,623	46.90%
Marcel Lenggernhager	BDP	42'443	46.70%
Dani Schafroth	independent	9,625	10.59%
Isolated		72'224	79.46%

The right-wing parties SVP and FDP now held 85 out of 180 seats in the Cantonal Council and were able to find a majority with either the CVP or the BDP and EDU . From the second half of the legislature the CVP moved closer to the bourgeois bloc and enabled a solid majority in economic, financial and transport issues. Compared to the previous legislative period, the central parties glp, EPP and BDP lost their influence as majority procurers.

Nevertheless, the SVP had only moderate success in parliament and in referendums during the legislative period and suffered a few defeats. The FDP was able to achieve 94.5% of its projects at least in the cantonal council. The parliamentary left was hardly able to push through its own projects and concentrated on preventive policy, so it overturned several strongly bourgeois laws at the ballot box. As a result, the bourgeois majority was mainly able to shape the budget and otherwise only assert itself on less important issues. The SP therefore spoke of a lost legislature.

In the local elections in 2018, the SVP lost a massive percentage of the votes, while in the larger cities, the SP in particular was able to gain. In the city of Zurich, the CVP surprisingly missed re-entry into the municipal council .

Candidacies

Mario Fehr
Ernst Stocker
Carmen Walker Spah
Jacqueline Fehr
Natalie Rickli
Thomas Vogel
Martin Neukom
Rosmarie Quadranti

The previous councilors Mario Fehr , Jacqueline Fehr (both SP), Ernst Stocker (SVP), Silvia Steiner (CVP) and Carmen Walker Späh (FDP) ran for re-election, while Thomas Heiniger (FDP) and Markus Kägi (SVP) stood for one refused to run again. Their respective parties nominated Thomas Vogel (FDP, president of the cantonal parliamentary group) and Natalie Rickli (SVP, national councilor) as substitute candidates for them. Other candidates were Martin Neukom (Greens), Jörg Mäder (glp), Hanspeter Hugentobler (EVP), Walter Angst (AL), Hans Egli (EDU), Rosmarie Quadranti (BDP) and Jan Linhart (independent).

A total of 13 lists with 1,734 candidates applied for the Cantonal Council. The SVP (180 candidates), SP (180), FDP (180), glp (180), Greens (179), CVP (176), EVP (179), AL (176) and EDU (145) occurred in all 18 Constituencies. The BDP, which has also been represented in the cantonal council, ran with 107 candidates in 15 constituencies. The PdA started with 37 candidates in six constituencies and the newly founded parties Die Guten (12) and Helvida (3) in one constituency each. Pirates , Juso and IP Zurich were no longer available for election from the lists that were entered into in 2015 .

Election campaign

The "bourgeois alliance" of SVP, FDP and CVP contested a joint election campaign for their five government council candidates. Similar alliances existed in previous cantonal and communal elections in the canton of Zurich. An SVP leaflet directed against the FDP caused a stir two weeks before the election, whereupon a possible split in the bourgeois electorate was suspected.

In the left spectrum, the SP recommended the candidates from the Greens and the AL for election. The latter two recommended their mutual candidates and the SP candidate Jacqueline Fehr , but not Mario Fehr , for re-election. Mario Fehr's nomination was controversial in the SP and was criticized by the Stadtzürcher SP, the Juso , Greens and AL because he was considered a hardliner in asylum policy. In 2015, Mario Fehr even temporarily suspended his SP membership because he had been reported by the Juso for buying spy software. In contrast, he was considered popular with voters from all camps.

The political center, consisting of the glp, EPP and BDP, made reciprocal election recommendations for the first time.

As a result of the debate about the ongoing climate strikes , the climate became the dominant election issue . The Greens and the Green Liberals have been declared potential profiteers. In spite of a change of course in climate policy, no advantages were ascribed to the FDP. The lack of economic activity in the SVP's core issues, asylum and immigration policy, was suspected as a possible reason for SVP's losses. The SP's controversial European policy about the ambiguous stance on the EU-Switzerland framework agreement and the resulting media-effective party transition by Chantal Galladé to the Europe-friendly glp caused the SP, which was very successful in the local elections, to cause a downward trend ("Galladé effect").

Survey

Polls on the election of the cantonal council
Institute	date	SVP	SP	FDP	GPS	glp	CVP	EPP	AL	EDU	BDP
Sotomo	2nd March 2019	28.2	18.5	17.7	10.0	9.3	4.7	4.0	2.9	2.4	1.9
Last choice	April 12, 2015	30.0	19.7	17.3	7.6	7.2	4.9	4.3	3.0	2.7	2.6

Polls on government council elections
Institute	date	M. Fehr	Stocker	Walker Spah	Steiner	J. Fehr	Rickli	bird	Neukom	Mäder	Quadranti	fear	Hugen- tobler	Egli
Sotomo	2nd March 2019	65	54	54	52	49	44	42	38	30th	24	19th	10	6th
Sotomo	January 10, 2019	65.8	57.5	56.0	53.6	49.5	50.0	40.3	35.0	28.4	23.0	17.9	7.5	4.7

Comments: Figures in percent. The date indicates the middle point in time of the survey, not the point in time when the survey was published.

Results of the cantonal elections

The results of the cantonal elections strengthened the ecological forces (Greens and GLP) massively. Such a tendency was expected in the surveys, but not to the extent that it was. Afterwards there was talk of a green wave. The climate strikes in the previous weeks were suspected to be the main reason .

For the bourgeois parties, the election result was seen as a debacle. The main loser was the SVP, which achieved its worst election result since 1991. Their previous alliance parties in the bourgeois bloc (FDP, CVP and EDU) also lost votes and seats slightly. Their previous majority of 99 out of 180 seats has been reduced to a minority of 86 seats. The parties SP, glp, GPS, EVP and AL, which tend to vote green, thus achieved a majority of 94 seats. In questions of social and financial policy, however, it is expected that the bourgeois parties will find a majority together with the glp.

The BDP missed the five percent hurdle in all constituencies and left the cantonal council. All other previously represented small parties moved back into parliament, but the EDU lost its parliamentary group status due to a loss of seats.

The Zurich elections are generally regarded as a yardstick for the national elections in the following autumn. It is therefore expected that the SVP-FDP majority in the National Council will come under pressure.

Political party	Voters	Percent (+/-)		Seats (+/-)
Swiss People's Party	74,563	24.46%	- 5.56% p.p.	45	- 9
Social Democratic Party	58,870	19.31%	- 0.36% p	35	- 1
FDP. The liberal	47,747	15.66%	- 1.66% p.p.	29	- 2nd
Green Liberal Party	39,342	12.91%	+ 5.27% p.p.	23	+ 9
Green party	36,309	11.91%	+ 4.69% p	22nd	+ 9
Christian Democratic People's Party	13,086	4.29%	- 0.59% p	08th	- 1
Evangelical People's Party	12,928	4.24%	- 0.03% p	08th	± 0
Alternative list	9,593	3.15%	+ 0.17% p	06th	+ 1
Federal Democratic Union	6,926	2.27%	- 0.39% p	04th	- 1
Bourgeois Democratic Party	4,655	1.53%	- 1.09% p	00	- 5th
Party of labor	530	0.17%	New	00	New
The good ones	260	0.09%	New	00	New
Helvida	12	0.00%	New	00	New

Strongest party according to constituencies and distribution of seats Swiss People's Party, Social Democratic Party, FDP. The Liberals
Strongest party by counting circles

Results of the government council elections

In the polls it was expected that the previous councilors would be re-elected and that the SVP and FDP would be able to replace their resigned councilors. Shortly before the election, however, it became apparent that Thomas Vogel's election would be jeopardized by the green candidate Martin Neukom. Nevertheless, Neukom's election was considered a surprise success, also because of its relative lack of awareness. The loss of the second seat in the government council by the FDP, on the other hand, was considered a historic defeat, as the Zürcher Freinn was never represented with fewer than two seats.

candidate	Political party	be right	% of the abs. More	Result
Mario Fehr (previously)	SP	173'231	167.60%	elected
Jacqueline Fehr (previously)	SP	149,104	144.26%	elected
Ernst Stocker (previously)	SVP	140,951	136.37%	elected
Silvia Steiner (previously)	CVP	135,481	131.08%	elected
Carmen Walker Späh (so far)	FDP	126'229	122.13%	elected
Martin Neukom	Green	121'229	117.87%	elected
Natalie Rickli	SVP	116,096	112.33%	elected
Thomas Vogel	FDP	109,624	106.06%
Jörg Mäder	glp	93,782	90.74%
Walter fear	AL	81,754	79.10%
Rosmarie Quadranti	BDP	52,677	50.97%
Hanspeter Hugentobler	EPP	41,860	40.50%
Hans Egli	EDU	23,702	22.93%
Jan Linhart	independent	7,264	7.03%
Isolated		73'417