Greens Make Significant Gains in Swiss Elections By Phillip Howard

Regula Rytz, Green Party President & National Councillor, reacts to the election results in Bern (Photo by EPA)

Switzerland’s Greens made significant gains in the recent election, winning enough seats to become a significant force. Both parties under the Green label, the Green Party and the Green Liberal Party, gained a combined 26 seats in the 200-seat legislature for 21 percent of the seats. Climate change was a major focus.

The Swiss People’s Party, a nationalist party focused on limiting immigration and distancing Switzerland from the European Union, remained the largest party in power, but its vote share dropped to 25 percent. One outgoing party member, Oskar Freysinger, stressed “that before saving the planet we have to save Swiss sovereignty.”

Oskar Freysinger (Photo from La Liberte)

Geneva University political scientist Pascal Sciarini called the gains made by the Greens “spectacular.” Sciarini “expected a Green wave,” but this was “a tsunami.” Even Green Party members acknowledged the outcome exceeded their most optimistic poll projections.   

In the more conservative countryside of Switzerland, Hans Aschwanden, a local cheese maker in Seelisberg, an Alpine village, condemned the Swiss People’s Party, claiming that “they want to pull everyone back to the mountains.” Since opening up Switzerland to the European Union, craftsmen like him have benefited greatly from having easier access to European markets. Aschwanden further added that “we don’t want to go back to that,” in reference to Switzerland’s more isolated past.

Centrist parties on both sides, including the left-leaning Social Democrats (l6.6) and right-leaning Liberals (15.3), finished narrowly divided. This, coupled with the strong showing from the Greens, may provide an opportunity to hold cabinet-level positions in the Swiss government, a first for the party.

Phillip Howard is a graduate student at Utica College