Greens Make Waves in Switzerland
Photograph of a Swiss campaigning site. Photo courtesy of The Guardian and Reuters.
On 20 Oct. 2019, the Swiss Confederation held parliamentary elections. Environmental parties made huge gains, reinforcing Swiss concerns over climate change in the region.
While the far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) remained the largest party and the centre-left Social Democrats the second-largest party, the two Green parties captured a large chunk of the vote.
The centre-right Liberal Party came in third place, while the Christian Democrats, a previously prominent centre-right outfit and the party of the current Federal Chancellor, Walter Thurnherr, were ejected to fifth place, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation
The two environmental parties, the Greens and the Green Liberals, upset the ruling coalition, made up of the SVP, Social Democrats, Liberals, and Christian Democrats. Now that the Christian Democrats lost a significant amount of their seats, the Greens are likely to replace them and join the government's cabinet, as reported by Reuters
Swiss elections rarely yield an absolute majority, and governing generally require complex coalitions.
Although the SVP came out with the most seats, they took a significant hit, losing 12 of their 64 seats. Many observers have seen this as a rebuke of right-wing conservatism, as liberal parties take more power in Swiss politics.
Many Swiss voters are concerned about warming conditions in the Alps region of the country. Large thaws contributed to changing climate conditions, threaten large Swiss communities, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The rise of Green parties in European, particularly Germanic, countries have been an electoral trend for the last couple of years.
The German Green Party captured 67 seats in the Bundestag in 2017, while in Austria they entered parliament with 26 new seats. In 2019 European Parliament elections, a Green coalition came in fourth place, giving them significant sway in European politics and the European Commission.
Rising angst over changing environmental conditions have made their way onto European ballots, and Switzerland seems to have experienced that nervousness. The two Green parties captured over 20 per cent of the popular vote, lending an environmental mandate to the government if they are adopted into the ruling coalition, according to Politico.
Switzerland has a new major player in its government. We can only wait to see how the coalition responds to the environmentalist's rise.
Sources:
"Switzerland election: Green parties make landmark gains." BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation, 21 Oct. 2019,
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50116400
Depetris, Marina and Mantovani, Cecile. "Greens surge in Swiss election as climate change worries come to the fore." Reuters, Thomas Reuters Corporation, 19 Oct. 2019,
Gurzu, Anca. "Green parties make biggest gains in Swiss election." Politico, Capitol News Company, 20 Oct. 2019,
https://www.politico.eu/article/green-parties-set-to-be-biggest-winners-in-swiss-election/