Swiss elections: the FDP on the way to insignificance

Electoral defeats in the big cities: the FDP on the way to insignificance

The FDP is declining rapidly in cities. Its exponents disagree on how the party gets out of trouble.

Francesco Benini, Christoph Bernet / ch media

Again, it was a bad election weekend for the Liberals. With her commitment, the Federal Councilor of the FDP, Karin Keller-Sutter, made a decisive contribution to the fact that the group responsibility initiative lost the cenote further. But bad news came in the elections: defeats in Basel-Stadt, Bern, St. Gallen and Baden. The FDP’s negative streak has continued unchecked since the fall 2019 national elections.

Liberals find it particularly difficult in urban areas. In 1983, the FDP held 31 percent of all executive mandates in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, that was the highest position. Today it only holds 14 percent of government seats in the largest cities. The FDP had to give first place to the SP (40 percent). The Greens also outperformed the FDP with a 23 percent stake in executive terms.

On Sunday, the party lost its last presidium in a big city: in St. Gallen, the SP candidate distanced the FDP candidate.

The concept of “FDP Urban” is not reflected in concrete terms

At the national level, the FDP has lost many voters to the SVP in the last 20 years; in the cities it is losing supporters to the left-wing parties and green liberals. The so-called eco-swing started by the party’s president, Petra Gössi, has yet to have any effect. The party fails to stabilize the vote share.

The urban bourgeoisie resisted for a long time the transport and housing policies of the left. The fight seems lost. The urban population is behind the new bike lanes, the creation of 30 km / h zones and the elimination of parking spaces. An increasing number of city dwellers do not have a car. And non-profit housing construction, promoted by Links-grün, is endorsed time and again by city dwellers in municipal votes.

So what should the FDP do? Three years ago, some in the party felt that new recipes had to be found. The group “FDP Urban” wrote a book. Then not much happened. The positions on condensed construction and digitization proved difficult to convey. Little was felt in the urban electoral campaigns of the new approaches. There is a lack of coordination. “FDP Urban” remains a slogan that has found little concrete expression in urban politics.

Liberals don’t cheer on the young, they keep them small

There is also another problem: the FDP refuses to promote young politicians. Petra Gössi recently criticized this point. In the party it is said that young women are promoted. If there is a young woman, older people immediately reject her and fear for her mandates. And no responsible intervenes.

Does the FDP have to accept the descent into insignificance in the cities? No, thinks Severin Pflüger. The president of the FDP of the city of Zurich points out that Switzerland is entering a recession. “The party should make the most of its economic and financial capabilities,” he says. It is said that no party has more competence in economic matters than the FDP. Second point: liberals defend freedom. In cities, Left-Green increasingly exaggerates by organizing, restricting and over-serving. “The FDP should oppose this, and that’s where we can make a name for ourselves,” says Pflüger.

The national adviser of the Zürich FDP, Andri Silberschmidt, stresses, however, that it will take time for the party to once again be perceived as the bourgeois ecological force that it had already been in the last century. During this time, green liberals should continue to attract liberal-minded voters who care about the environment. But LPG is first and foremost a “fire” and as a party in Bern it still assumes little responsibility, as it is not represented in the Council of States. “When our profile is honed, liberal-minded city dwellers who care about the environment will choose us again.” (aargauerzeitung.ch)