Voters went to the polls to elect a new national parliament in Switzerland on Sunday with results showing a victory of the radical right and a defeat of environmentalist forces.
For the lower house, the right-wing SVP won 62 seats, nine more than in 2019. The right-wing Geneva Citizens’ Movement party re-entered the national parliament with two seats after a four-year absence.
The EDU, a Christian fundamentalist right-wing party, increased its vote share from one to two. The right-wing Lega party, which contests in the Italian-speaking Ticino region, won one seat. In total, radical right parties increased their seat share from 55 to 67 seats in the 200-seat chamber.
The Greens and the Green Liberals suffered heavy losses after winning record-high support in the 2019 election. The Greens dropped from 28 to 23 seats, their second-best result so far. The Green Liberals dropped from 16 to 10 seats. Labour-Solidarity, a left-wing alliance, lost both of its seats.
The centre-right Centre Party (29 seats) and the liberal FDP (28 seats) swapped their seat count. The center-left Socialists remained fairly stable with 41 seats, an increase of two. The centre-left and Christian fundamentalist Evangelicals (EVP) won 2 seats (-1).
The upper house of the national parliament will see a range of run-off elections throughout the autumn.
Switzerland has been ruled by the SVP, Socialists, FDP, and The Centre since the creation of the ‘magic formula’ power-sharing arrangement between the four major parties in 1959. It is unlikely that the set of participants will change after this election.
(Europe Elects)
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