Review elections 2007
Less SVP-friendly than at home, but greener
The Swiss People's Party (SVP) proved the most popular election choice among the Swiss abroad, too. But its victory among the 'Fifth Switzerland' was less resounding than at home. That much is clear from the results from the cantons which record the votes of the Swiss abroad separately.
Five cantons have central voting registers and, in these elections, four of these recorded votes from abroad separately. They are the cantons of Geneva, Lucerne, Vaud and Appenzell Innerrhoden. There is no nationwide tracking of the voting trends of the Swiss abroad.
Since introduction of the postal ballot in 1992, and since the 1995 parliamentary elections, one thing has been clear: the SVP is popular with the Swiss abroad. Four years ago, the People's Party won 10 – 14 percent of the votes in the listed cantons. This time the figure was 15 – 19 percent - still 3 – 6 percent less than the overall result. But the Swiss abroad did not give a majority to the SVP in any of the recording cantons. Based on the votes of the Swiss abroad, the SP is the strongest party in the cantons of Geneva and Vaud.
In the canton of Lucerne, 16 percent of the Swiss abroad voted green. Canton-wide, the figure was just 9.4 percent. Also in the canton of Lucerne, the CVP suffered sharp losses since 1995: only 22.2 percent of the Swiss abroad voted CVP, compared with 30.2 percent in the canton as a whole. Four years ago, the figure was 27.3 percent.
None of the 44 candidates from abroad was elected last weekend. Among them, Raphaël Thémard from Belgium (Green, Fribourg) proved most popular, netting 2251 votes. Second position went to Julien Neirynck from France (CVP, Vaud), with 2009 votes. He was followed by another candidate from France, Florian Rochat (EDU, Vaud), with 2000 votes. 33 of the 44 were standing for the SVP.
Useful documents
