December 13, 2007
DECENCY PREVAILS:
Right-Wing Flop in Switzerland (Der Spiegel, 12/13/07)
On Wednesday, Switzerland was taken by surprise when Christoph Blocher, the controversial Justice Minister of the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), failed to be elected into the Swiss Federal Council -- Switzerland's seven-member cabinet. The two chambers of the federal parliament opted instead to elect his moderate party colleague Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, who was not even officially running for a seat.Posted by Orrin Judd at December 13, 2007 4:09 PMThe blow was a major one for Blocher, under whose leadership the SVP earned 29 percent of the popular vote in parliamentary elections in October, making it the strongest of the five parties in the National Assembly. Blocher, a billionaire industrialist, shaped his campaign with strong anti-immigration and nationalist rhetoric.
... then why is he right-wing?
Posted by: erp at December 13, 2007 4:30 PMThe "flop" was that the other parties chose not to vote for him. There have long been 4 parties, ranging from 15-30% of the votes in each election. Each party represents a different group, and there's always been a four party coalition. His party used to be the smallest, and is now the largest. This by itself caused controversy because they have a seven member executive-- it was momentous when they moved from 1 of the SVP to 2, dropping a different party to 1.
The long-standing coalition was broken-- but also because the SVP took policies that the other parties couldn't stand for.
Posted by: John Thacker at December 13, 2007 6:53 PMThe two chambers of the federal parliament opted instead to elect his moderate party colleague...
There must be a typo here, it should be: the fp opted to "select" his ...
Back room deals are "selections" not "elections".
Posted by: ic at December 14, 2007 5:00 PM