2007 Swiss Council of States election

Elections were held to the Council of States of Switzerland in October and November 2007 as part of the 2007 federal election. All 46 members of the Council of States were elected from all cantons of Switzerland. The first round was held on 21 October. In eight cantons, not all seats were filled in the first round, and a second round was held on 11 November, 18 November, or 25 November.

2007 Swiss Council of States election

21 October, 11 November, 18 November and 25 November 2007
All 46 seats to the Swiss Council of States
First party Second party Third party   Leader Christophe Darbellay Fulvio Pelli Hans-Jürg Fehr Party Christian Democrats Free Democrats Social Democrats Last election 15 seats 14 seats 9 seats Seats won 15 12 9 Seat change 2   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ueli Maurer Ruth Genner Martin Bäumle Party Swiss People's Greens Green Liberals Last election 8 seats 0 seats 0 Seats won 7 2 1 Seat change 1 2 1

The election was a breakthrough for the Green Party, which won its first two seats in the Council of States, and the Green Liberal Party (GLP), which won a seat only four months after it split from the Greens. These gains – the first time minor parties had won representation in the Council of States since 1995 – came at the expense of the Free Democratic Party, which lost two seats, and the Swiss People's Party, which lost its seat in its stronghold of Zurich to the GLP.

Results

The Council of States election was not finalized with the first run on 21 October; twelve seats remained to be distributed in second round elections on 11 November, 18 November or 25 November 2007.

The second round saw a number of notable races, for instance the election for the second seat in Zürich, where SP candidate Chantal Galladé agreed to withdraw and support GLP candidate Verena Diener against SVP candidate Ueli Maurer, increasing the centre-left's changes in the second round. In St. Gallen, where no one was elected in the first round, FDP candidate Erika Forster and CVP candidate Eugen David, both incumbents, started a common campaign for reelection against SVP candidate Toni Brunner. Four candidates contested the election for the two seats in Tessin -- Dick Marty (FDP, over 40,000 votes in the first round), Filippo Lombardi (CVP), Franco Cavalli (SP) -- both of whom had over 30,000 votes—and finally Attilio Bignasca (Lega). The two incumbents from the FDP and CVP were reelected on 18 November.

The second seat for Lucerne was handed to CVP candidate Konrad Graber in so-called "silent election" when no other candidate filed to run against him in the second round. Graber had narrowly failed to be elected in the first round. The second mandate in Fribourg and Valais was also decided in this way.

Party		Seats	/–
	Christian Democratic People's Party	15	0
	Free Democratic Party	12	–2
	Social Democratic Party	9	0
	Swiss People's Party	7	–1
	Green Party	2	2
	Green Liberal Party	1	1
Total		46	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

By canton

Appenzell Ausserrhoden

2007 Council of States election: Appenzell Ausserrhoden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Hans Altherr	10,880	87.9
	Independent	Vereinzelte	1,012	8.2
	Independent	Edgar Bischof	310	2.5
	Independent	Ivo Müller	98	0.8
	Independent	Matthias Weishaupt	84	0.7
Turnout			12,384
	Free Democrats hold		Swing

Appenzell Innerrhoden

2007 Council of States election: Appenzell Innerrhoden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Democrats	Ivo Bischofberger
Turnout
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Aargau

2007 Council of States election: Aargau

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Christine Egerszegi-Obrist	98,961	29.5
	Swiss People's	Maximilian Reimann	92,814	27.6
	Social Democrats	Pascale Bruderer	62,780	18.7
	Greens	Geri Müller	31,417	9.4
	Christian Democrats	Esther Egger	2,3843	7.1
	Evangelical People's	Heiner Studer	16,884	5.0
	Independent	Pius Lischer	6,152	1.8
	Independent	René Bertschinger	3,147	0.9
Turnout			335,998
	Free Democrats hold		Swing
	Swiss People's hold		Swing

Basel-Landschaft

2007 Council of States election: Basel-Landschaft

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Claude Janiak	47,473	58.5
	Swiss People's	Erich Straumann	28,054	34.6
	Independent	Vereinzelte	5,618	6.9
Turnout			81,145
	Social Democrats gain from Free Democrats		Swing

Basel-Stadt

2007 Council of States election: Basel-Stadt

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Anita Fetz	32,736	60.4
	Liberals	Andreas Albrecht	17,344	32.0
	Independent	Eric Weber	3,631	6.7
	Independent	Vereinzelte	460	0.8
Turnout			54,171
	Social Democrats hold		Swing

Bern

2007 Council of States election: Bern

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Simonetta Sommaruga	164,557	29.1
	Swiss People's	Werner Luginbühl	143,347	25.3
	Greens	Franziska Teuscher	108,597	19.2
	Free Democrats	Dora Andres	108,017	19.1
	Evangelical People's	Walter Donzé	17,789	3.1
	Federal Democrats	Christian Waber	14,374	2.5
	Swiss Democrats	Adrian Wyss	9,073	1.6
Turnout			565,754
	Social Democrats hold		Swing
	Swiss People's hold		Swing

Fribourg

2007 Council of States election: Fribourg – First round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Democrats	Urs Schwaller	47,202	37.1
	Social Democrats	Alain Berset	35,068	27.6
	Free Democrats	Jean-Claude Cornu	25,165	19.8
	Swiss People's	Jean-François Rime	19,782	15.5
Turnout			127,217
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

2007 Council of States election: Fribourg – Second round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Alain Berset
	Social Democrats hold		Swing

Geneva

2007 Council of States election: Geneva

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Liliane Maury Pasquier	49,046	26.6
	Greens	Robert Cramer	45,452	24.7
	Liberals	Martine Brunschwig Graf	37,964	20.6
	Christian Democrats	Jean-Pierre Jobin	26,816	14.6
	Swiss People's	Soli Pardo	22,014	11.9
	Independent	Claude Tamborini	3,000	1.6
Turnout			184,292
	Social Democrats hold		Swing
	Greens gain from Free Democrats		Swing

Glarus

2007 Council of States election: Glarus

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Fritz Schiesser	6,380	44.8
	Swiss People's	This Jenny	6,024	42.3
	Independent	Vereinzelte	1,834	12.9
Turnout			14,238
	Free Democrats hold		Swing
	Swiss People's hold		Swing

Graubünden

2007 Council of States election: Graubünden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Swiss People's	Christoffel Brändli	27,923	44.4
	Christian Democrats	Theo Maissen	21,257	33.8
	Social Democrats	Johannes Pfenninger	8,558	13.6
	Independent	Vereinzelte	5,139	8.2
Turnout			62,877
	Swiss People's hold		Swing
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Jura

2007 Council of States election: Jura

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Claude Hêche	7,965	18.9
	Christian Democrats	Anne Seydoux-Christe	6,322	15.0
	Christian Democrats	Madeleine Amgwerd	5,992	14.2
	Social Democrats	Christophe Berdat	5,907	14.0
	Christian Social	Pierre-Olivier Cattin	3,079	7.3
	Free Democrats	Jean-Frédéric Gerber	2,968	7.0
	Swiss People's	Frédéric Juillerat	2,869	6.8
	Swiss People's	Olivier Allimann	2,804	6.7
	Free Democrats	Pascal Haenni	2,194	5.2
	Christian Social	Pascal Prince	2,052	4.9
Turnout			42,152
	Social Democrats hold		Swing
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Lucerne

2007 Council of States election: Lucerne – First round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Helen Leumann-Würsch	65,269	29.6
	Christian Democrats	Konrad Graber	60,464	27.4
	Swiss People's	Josef Kunz	36,302	16.5
	Social Democrats	Prisca Birrer-Heimo	26,595	12.1
	Greens	Heidi Rebsamen	23,925	10.8
	Swiss People's	Pirmin Müller	8,001	3.6
Turnout			220,556
	Free Democrats hold		Swing

2007 Council of States election: Luzern – Second round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Democrats	Konrad Graber
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Neuchâtel

2007 Council of States election: Neuchâtel – First round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Gisèle Ory	17,155	15.3
	Free Democrats	Didier Burkhalter	16,927	15.1
	Social Democrats	Pierre Bonhôte	15,366	13.7
	Swiss People's	Yvan Perrin	15,026	13.4
	Liberals	Sylvie Perrinjaquet	11,811	10.5
	Swiss People's	Jean-Charles Legrix	10,663	9.5
	Labour	Denis de la Reussille	8,351	7.4
	Greens	Francine John-Calame	5,008	4.5
	solidaritéS	Marianne Ebel	4,045	3.6
	Greens	Blaise Horisberger	3,642	3.2
	Christian Democrats	Vincent Martinez	1,926	1.7
	Christian Democrats	Mauro Nanini	1,845	1.7
	Independent	Jäggi Lukas	341	0.3
Turnout			112,106

2007 Council of States election: Neuchâtel – Second round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Didier Burkhalter	28,710	35.7
	Social Democrats	Gisèle Ory	27,617	34.4
	Social Democrats	Pierre Bonhôte	24,050	29.9
Turnout			80,377
	Free Democrats gain from Social Democrats		Swing
	Social Democrats hold		Swing

Nidwalden

2007 Council of States election: Nidwalden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Democrats	Paul Niederberger
Turnout
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Obwalden

2007 Council of States election: Obwalden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Hans Hess
Turnout
	Free Democrats hold		Swing

Schaffhausen

2007 Council of States election: Schaffhausen

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Peter Briner	16,831
	Swiss People's	Hannes Germann	16,774
	Greens	Hans Jakob Gloor	6,481
	Social Democrats	Sabine Spross	6,196
	Alternative List	Florian Keller	3,279
	Independent	Vereinzelte	1,655
Turnout
	Free Democrats hold		Swing
	Swiss People's hold		Swing

Schwyz

2007 Council of States election: Schwyz

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Swiss People's	Alex Kuprecht	22,950
	Christian Democrats	Bruno Frick	21,647
	Christian Democrats	Alois Kessler	13,690
	Free Democrats	Ueli Metzger	11,396
	Social Democrats	Patrick Nauer	5,006
	Independent	Vereinzelte	715
Turnout
	Swiss People's hold		Swing
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Solothurn

2007 Council of States election: Solothurn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Rolf Büttiker	50,433
	Social Democrats	Ernst Leuenberger	45,911
	Christian Democrats	Annelies Peduzzi	35,470
Turnout
	Free Democrats hold		Swing
	Social Democrats hold		Swing

St. Gallen

2007 Council of States election: St. Gallen – First round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Swiss People's	Toni Brunner	61,648
	Christian Democrats	Eugen David	59,488
	Free Democrats	Erika Forster-Vannini	55,462
	Social Democrats	Kathrin Hilber	43,278
	Greens	Yvonne Gilli	22,824
	Swiss Democrats	Thomas Meinrad Manser	6,280
	Independent	Vereinzelte	2,930
Turnout

2007 Council of States election: St. Gallen – Second round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Erika Forster-Vannini	84,547
	Christian Democrats	Eugen David	80,484
	Swiss People's	Toni Brunner	68,667
	Swiss Democrats	Thomas Meinrad Manser	7,940
	Independent	Vereinzelte	946
Turnout
	Free Democrats hold		Swing
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Thurgau

2007 Council of States election: Thurgau

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Democrats	Philipp Stähelin	45,097
	Swiss People's	Hermann Bürgi	44,170
	Greens	Isabella Stäheli-Tobler	14,449
	Social Democrats	Walter Hugentobler	14,176
	Independent	Gabriela Coray	8,845
	Independent	Vereinzelte	2,685
Turnout
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing
	Swiss People's hold		Swing

Ticino

2007 Council of States election: Ticino – First round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Dick Marty	41,428
	Christian Democrats	Filippo Lombardi	33,513
	Social Democrats	Franco Cavalli	33,068
	Ticino League	Attilio Bignasca	21,410
	Swiss People's	Pierre Rusconi	12,144
	Independent	Matteo Gianini	1,878
	Federal Democrats	Edo Pellegrini	1,463
	Independent	Cortonesi Rivo	363
Turnout

2007 Council of States election: Ticino – Second round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Dick Marty	40,088
	Christian Democrats	Filippo Lombardi	38,177
	Social Democrats	Franco Cavalli	32,786
	Ticino League	Attilio Bignasca	18,346
Turnout
	Free Democrats hold		Swing
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Uri

2007 Council of States election: Uri

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Democrats	Hansruedi Stadler	5,038
	Christian Democrats	Hansheiri Inderkum	4,937
	Independent	Vereinzelte	697
Turnout
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Valais

2007 Council of States election: Valais – First round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Democrats	Jean-René Fournier	54,352
	Christian Democrats	René Imoberdorf	45,092
	Free Democrats	Léonard Bender	22,389
	Social Democrats	Peter Jossen-Zinsstag	18,128
	Swiss People's	Jean-Luc Addor	13,274
	Swiss People's	Lukas Jäger	12,257
	Greens	Christophe Clivaz	11,027
	Independent	Michel Carron	1,382
	Independent	Gerlinde Marlene Bass-Bärenfaller	1,334
	Independent	Claude Bourquin	961
Turnout
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

2007 Council of States election: Valais – Second round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Democrats	René Imoberdorf
Turnout
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing

Vaud

2007 Council of States election: Vaud – First round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Charles Favre	65,439
	Swiss People's	Guy Parmelin	65,186
	Social Democrats	Géraldine Savary	54,192
	Greens	Luc Recordon	42,998
	Christian Democrats	Jacques Neirynck	17,952
	Labour	Marianne Huguenin	13,795
	Labour	Josef Zisyadis	12,456
	solidaritéS	Jean-Michel Dolivo	5,180
	Federal Democrats	Maximilien Bernhard	3,616
	solidaritéS	Naima Topkiran	2,728
	Independent	Vereinzelte	951
Turnout

2007 Council of States election: Vaud – Second round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democrats	Géraldine Savary	88,056
	Greens	Luc Recordon	86,350
	Free Democrats	Charles Favre	62,116
	Swiss People's	Guy Parmelin	62,092
Turnout
	Social Democrats hold		Swing
	Greens gain from Free Democrats		Swing

Zug

2007 Council of States election: Zug

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Christian Democrats	Peter Bieri	21,058
	Free Democrats	Rolf Schweiger	20,195
Turnout
	Christian Democrats hold		Swing
	Free Democrats hold		Swing

Zurich

2007 Council of States election: Zurich – First round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Free Democrats	Felix Gutzwiller	182,863
	Swiss People's	Ueli Maurer	150,707
	Social Democrats	Chantal Galladé	110,843
	Green Liberals	Verena Diener	100,442
	Greens	Daniel Vischer	61,354
	Independent	Vereinzelte	48,148
	Christian Democrats	Kathy Riklin	39,715
	Evangelical People's	Ruedi Aeschbacher	16,237
	Federal Democrats	Markus Wäfler	8,011
	Alternative List	Niklaus Scherr	7,878
	Independent	Stadelmann Toni	1,327
	Independent	Zaehner Heinz	350
	Independent	Danowski Marian	142
Turnout
	Free Democrats hold		Swing

2007 Council of States election: Zurich – Second round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green Liberals	Verena Diener	199,863
	Swiss People's	Ueli Maurer	170,081
	Independent	Vereinzelte	8,230
Turnout			377,905
	Green Liberals gain from Swiss People's		Swing