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The SVP cannot get rid of the St. Gallen curse: its candidate hardly fails in the government elections. SP and FDP defend their seats.
Michael Götte (svp.), Here in a yellow tie on the first vote, remains behind Beat Tinner (fdp.) And Laura Bucher (sp. On the far left) on the second vote.
No party in St. Gallen has more voters than the SVP. And no major party fails more regularly in government elections: the SP and the FDP defended their seats on Sunday. The SVP attack fails. His candidate Michael Götte misses the election. Beat Tinner of the FDP and Laura Bucher of the SP have been chosen. The canton’s largest party remains without representation in the government.
The candidates had a face-to-face race. Laura Bucher from SP was able to join the voices on the left. After the first vote, the Greens competitor had withdrawn. Bucher probably also got female voices beyond her own party. Women are underrepresented in the St. Gallen government.
In the race among the middle-class men, SVP candidate Michael Götte started behind. The CVP made an electoral recommendation for the FDP candidate. SVP man Götte should have launched an ambitious campaign to win. Due to the corona virus, this was only possible to a limited extent. The digital election campaign didn’t really get going. Only the Kulturlokal Palace in St. Gallen dared to do something new and let the candidates argue on a “home office election podium.”
Election without ballot box
Voter turnout was 34.4 percent on Sunday, similarly lower than in March, in the first vote. There was no corona effect. Schwyz and Geneva held elections during the Crown crisis in front of the canton of St. Gallen. The staff at the urn in Schwyz was protected with plexiglass panels. The urns were never placed in St. Gallen. Only voting by mail was allowed. Authorities asked people in the risk group to mail their envelopes to their neighbors or volunteers.
The simple postal vote changed little for most voters. The largest constituency, the city of St. Gallen, only counts between 150 and 300 votes. That’s what the secretary of the voting office, Stephan Wenger, says. For Corona’s election, he and his team “installed disinfectants on every corner,” disinfected all workplaces, and distributed vote counters at the city hall across multiple floors, as Wenger says. Everything went smoothly.
Things were a little more turbulent at the local St. Margrethen parish. This brought the 2019 bill to a vote on Sunday. The council secretary had to stay home due to a cough. The president of the local church recruited a prominent short-term representative: the candidate for the councilor for the government, Laura Bucher. At half past eleven he left the local parish office, reports the president by phone. An hour and a half later, she was elected to the government.
