The right-wing Swiss People’s Party is the big winner of Sunday’s Swiss federal elections. The left-wing Green Party is the big loser.
Voters have elected a new parliament for the 2023-2027 legislative period. Up for grabs were 200 seats in the House of Representatives and 44 of 46 seats in the Senate.
Final results for the 200-seat House of Representatives – the composition of which sets the tone for overall gains and losses – show that the People’s Party gained nine seats (for a total of 62), the Social Democrats gained two (41) and the Centre Party gained one (29). The Radical-Liberals lost one (28), the Greens lost five (23), and the Liberal Greens lost six (10).
In the 46-seat Senate, the Centre Party and the Radical-Liberals have so far won the most seats, but because in some cantons none of the candidates won an absolute majority (more than 50% of votes), a second round will be necessary. These will take place in November. In the second round, the candidate(s) with the most votes wins, regardless of the absolute majority rule.
The race for third place, between the Centre Party and the Radical-Liberal Party, was a big talking point of the election. If the former overtook the latter in the House of Representatives for the first time, a seat in Switzerland’s seven-member consensus government could be up for discussion: currently, the “magic formula” of seat allocation gives the Radical-Liberals two ministers and the Centre just one.
According to final results on Sunday, the Centre Party came third with 14.6% of the vote, pipping the Radical-Liberals on 14.4%. However, three days later the government admitted those figures were incorrect (see note below). The Radical-Liberals in fact came third with 14.3%, ahead of the Centre Party on 14.1%.
Source : SWI