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Some conservative CVP politicians feel betrayed by the party’s chairman, Gerhard Pfister. Image: keystone
The CVP soon loses its “C”, but now the Conservatives are rehearsing the uprising against Pfister.
The new name “Die Mitte” meets internal resistance. Party politicians take legal action against the fact that the C should be withdrawn.
It is perhaps the most important Assembly of Delegates (DV) in the history of CVP. And the party plans them on the basis of the general staff. On November 28, up to 450 delegates in 13 locations will vote on whether the CVP will be called “Die Mitte” in the future and whether it will merge with the BDP. Coordination takes place in real life, locations are connected to each other via live video streaming.
Solo: It’s still in the stars if the analog-digital meeting will take place. Shortly before the appointment, there was a small riot behind the scenes. A request from CVP Oberwallis and a complaint from two people try to avoid DV. Both documents are available to CH Media.
In a letter to the CVP Presidium, CVP Oberwallis requests that the meeting be postponed “if it is not physically possible to hold it,” as the letter says. So a discussion “is not possible to the same extent.” There are only two alternatives for the CVPO: either the room is large enough or the DV is postponed.
Lawyers Daniel Albietz, councilor of the CVP (BS) and Silvan Ulrich, politician of the CVP of Pfeffingen (BL) go further in their complaint to the CVP internal arbitration court. Request a super provisional order to postpone DV, until the following complaints have been resolved:
- Strike vote: 60.57 percent of the members were in favor of the name “Die Mitte”. That is not enough, the complainants say. A two-thirds majority is required in the strike vote to change the statutes. Therefore, the name change was rejected.
- Illegal assembly: CVP’s plan to carry out DV at 13 locations and network it with a video broadcast contradicts both party statutes and the Federal Council’s Covid-19 regulation. Mixed forms are not allowed.
Opposition to the name change comes mainly from Upper Valais and the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft. But also from Lucerne. The two Basle complaint shows how well the critics are connected. She mentions the letter from CVP Oberwallis. The epicenter of the resistance is in Brig VS, at the law firm Rieder.Pfammatter.Bregy. CVP State Councilor Beat Rieder and CVP National Councilor Philipp Bregy are involved in it.
CVP Council of States Beat Rieder (VS) defends himself against the name change together with his colleague from the national council Philipp Bregy. Photo: trapezoidal
The two MPs are resolutely fighting against the handover of the C out of control. “CVP Oberwallis’s position is clearly and democratically endorsed,” says Councilor for States Rieder. “We are against the name change.” It doesn’t want to say more.
The letter says CVP Oberwallis resigned despite the many legal uncertainties surrounding the name change to request a neutral legal opinion. The legal dispute would “further weaken” CVP. The CVPO, however, requests a “written and secret” vote, if the DV is carried out.
The resistance has a broad base in the Upper Valais. At Basel-Stadt and Baselland, Albietz and Ulrich tend to be lone fighters. Albietz had left CVP Basel in 2015 and rejoined in 2017. “The name issue is of fundamental importance,” he says. “You need a clean process and not hasty statutory decisions.”
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Value Conservatives Feel “Betrayed” By Gerhard Pfister
The Upper Valais and Basel network is made up of conservative politicians who are critical of marriage for all and are more against abortion. The fact that her partner Gerhard Pfister throws the C overboard hits her hard. “At the beginning of his presidency he represented the C with great vehemence,” says Baselbiet lawyer Ivo Corvini, president of the church’s regional council. “It is a great disappointment that he wants to gift C with greater vehemence as a figurehead of C’s conservative politics. Above all, it is completely contradictory and therefore not very credible.”
On the left wing, Albert Schwarzenbach, representative of the “Lucerne Committee for a C”, is politicizing. “The C is a successful model,” says the former speaker of the Lucerne city parliament. Will reject the new name. Meanwhile, CVP has interpreted the statutes in voting terms in such a way that “each delegate can decide freely.”
The turbulence shortly before DV did not surprise CVP president Gerhard Pfister. It is “legitimate” to use the legal means provided by the party. However, he emphasizes that the Presidium received legal support in the strategy process: “Every step is legally clarified.”
He is personally involved in this important discussion about the name, says Pfister. But I am very relaxed, I do not exert any pressure, I do not anticipate any decision ”. The discussion does not harm CVP, as the latest GfS party poll showed. The CVP increased from 11.4 to 11.9 percent.
What happens if “Die Mitte” doesn’t pass the two-thirds hurdle? “So merging with the BDP in this way is off the table,” he says. “The starting position is then open.” But Pfister wouldn’t be Pfister if he didn’t have Plan B. Defenders of the “center” may well give rise to complaints.
