2023 Zürich cantonal elections
12 February 2023
All 7 seats in the Executive Council of Zürich
All 180 seats in the Cantonal Council of Zürich (91 seats needed for a majority)
Executive Council
  First party Second party Third party
 
Natalierickli.jpg
Ernst Stocker.jpg
Martin Neukom.jpg
Party Swiss People's Independent Greens
Elected Natalie Rickli
181,842, 70.02%		 Mario Fehr
192,711, 74.20%		 Martin Neukom
161,864, 62.33%
  Ernst Stocker
177,639, 68.40%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Fehr-jacqueline regierung 17 18.jpg
Walker-spaeh-2 001 pp Web.jpg
Party Social Democrats The Centre FDP.The Liberals
Elected Jacqueline Fehr
148,610, 57.22%		 Sylvia Steiner
146,242, 56.31%		 Carmen W. Späh
145,444, 56.00%
Cantonal Council
Party % Seats +/–
Swiss People's 24.92 46 +1
Social Democrats 19.32 36 +1
FDP.The Liberals 15.86 29 0
Green Liberals 12.75 24 +1
Greens 10.43 19 −3
The Centre 6.03 11 +3
Evangelical People's 3.86 7 −1
Alternative List 2.62 5 −1
Federal Democrats 1.89 3 −1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

The 2023 Zürich cantonal elections were held on 12 February 2023[1][2] to elect the seven members of the cantonal Executive Council and the 180 members of the Cantonal Council.

All seven incumbents in the Executive Council were re-elected, with the bourgeois alliance holding a majority of four; in the Cantonal Council the "Climate alliance" retained a narrow majority of 91.

Electoral system

Executive Council

The Executive Council contains 7 members elected using a two-round majoritarian system. In the first round, electors have up to seven votes and the 7 most-voted candidates reaching an overall majority (>50%) are elected. If seats remain to be filled, a runoff is held where electors have as many votes as seats remaining, and the candidates with the most votes (simple plurality) are elected.[3][4]

Cantonal Council

The Cantonal Council is elected using open-list proportional representation, with canton-wide apportionment of seats and allocation into 18 constituencies (biproportional apportionment). In each constituency, voters have as many votes as there are seats to fill (panachage is permitted); these votes each count both for the candidate and for the list they stand in. These votes counts are divided by the seats count to give fictional electors counts which can be summed up fairly throughout the canton.

Using the fictional electors counts, each party above the threshold (reaching 5% in at least one constituency) is apportioned seats canton-wide, which are then shared among their constituency lists. In each constituency list, the seats are attributed to the candidates reaching the most votes.[3][4]

Number of seats by constituency[1][2]
Constituency Seats Change
IZürich city districts 1 & 25=
IIZürich city districts 3 & 912=
IIIZürich city districts 4 & 55=
IVZürich city districts 6 & 108−1
VZürich city districts 7 & 86=
VIZürich city districts 11 & 1212=
VIIDietikon11=
VIIIAffoltern7+1
IXHorgen15=
XMeilen12=
XIHinwil11=
XIIUster16=
XIIIPfäffikon7=
XIVWinterthur city13=
XVWinterthur land7=
XVIAndelfingen4=
XVIIBülach18=
XVIIIDielsdorf11=

Date

Cantonal elections in Zürich are typically held in April or late March, but the presence of both a federal referendum date on 12 March and holidays meant the cantonal elections had to be pusher earlier, to mid-February.[5] Had a second round been needed, it would have been held on 16 April.[5]

Candidates

Executive Council

All seven incumbents ran for re-election: Mario Fehr (ind.), Jacqueline Fehr (SP), Ernst Stocker (SVP), Sylvia Steiner (CVP), Carmen Walker Späh (FDP), Martin Neukom (Grüne), and Natalie Rickli (SVP). Mario Fehr was elected in 2011 then re-elected in 2015 and 2019 as a social democrat, but left the party in 2021 and contested this election as an independent.[5]

The FDP fielded Peter Grünenfelder as their second candidate in hope of retaking their seat lost in 2015; the SP fielded Priska Seiler Graf as their second candidate to compensate for Mario Fehr's defection. Benno Scherrer runs for the Green-Liberals, hoping to take a seat as the fourth-largest party in the cantonal council.

Minor candidates were Anne-Claude Hensch for the Alternative List, Daniel Sommer for the EVP; Patrick Jetzer for Aufrecht and Josua Dietrich for the Free List both ran as opponents to Covid restrictions. Former SVP member Hans-Peter Amrein also ran as an independent, as did Bernhard Schmidt and Peter Vetsch.[5]

Candidacies could be submitted until 28 November 2022, 17 candidates ran in total.

Cantonal Council

The table below lists contesting parties represented in the Cantonal Council before the election.[5]

Name Ideology 2019 result Incumbent seats
Votes (%) Seats
SVP Swiss People's Party
Schweizerische Volkspartei		 National conservatism
Right-wing populism		 24.5%
45 / 180
44 / 180
SP Social Democratic Party
Sozialdemokratische Partei		 Social democracy
Democratic socialism		 19.3%
35 / 180
34 / 180
FDP FDP.The Liberals
FDP.Die Liberalen		 Classical liberalism
Conservative liberalism		 15.7%
29 / 180
29 / 180
GLP Green Liberal Party
Grünliberale Partei		 Green liberalism
Social liberalism		 12.9%
23 / 180
24 / 180
GPS Green Party
Grüne Partei		 Green politics
Progressivism		 11.9%
22 / 180
22 / 180
DM The Centre
Die Mitte[lower-alpha 1]		 Christian democracy
Social conservatism		 5.8%
8 / 180
9 / 180
EVP Evangelical People's Party
Evangelische Volkspartei		 Christian democracy
Social conservatism		 4.2%
8 / 180
8 / 180
AL Alternative List
Alternative Liste		 Socialism 3.2%
6 / 180
6 / 180
EDU Federal Democratic Union
Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union		 National conservatism 2.3%
4 / 180
3 / 180
Ind. Independents – –
0 / 180
1 / 180

Lists could be submitted until 5 December 2022. 13 parties contested this election, as many as in 2019, with 1687 candidates in total in the canton.

The SVP, SP, FDP, GLP, Greens, and Mitte all ran full slates of 180 candidates, while the EVP (177 candidates), AL (139), EDU (132), and Aufrecht/Free List (132) also ran in all 18 constituencies. The Party of Labour (23 candidates) only contests in the constituencies of the city of Zürich, and the lists Yes to stop growth and SansPapierPolitiques both consist of a single candidate.

Campaign

Approximate campaign budget for each candidate[6][7]
Candidate Budget (CHF)
Hans-Peter Amrein (Ind.)300,000
Peter Grünenfelder (FDP)300,000
Benno Scherrer (GLP)200,000
Jacqueline Fehr (SP)160,000
Carmen Walker Späh (FDP)150,000
Ernst Stocker (SVP)145,000
Martin Neukom (Greens)140,000
Silvia Steiner (Mitte)135,000
Priska Seiler Graf (SP)125,000
Mario Fehr (Ind.)120,000
Natalie Rickli (SVP)100,000
Anne-Claude Hensch (AL)100,000
Patrick Jetzer (Aufrecht)60,000
Peter Vetsch (Ind.)10,500

The 2019 cantonal elections had been a “green wave” as both the GLP and Greens gained over five percentage points in the Cantonal Council. The parties of the loose "Climate Alliance" (SP, GLP, Greens, EVP, AL) had won an overall majority for the first time, with 94 seats (out of 180).[5] The BDP, which failed to pass the threshold in 2019, merged with the CVP to form Die Mitte (The Centre).

As in previous elections, the bourgeois parties (SVP, FDP, Mitte) ran running as an alliance for the executive council.[8] The SP, Greens, and AL also recommend each-other's candidates under the name “Progressive Alliance”.[9] Both were more cohesive alliances than in previous elections;[10] the GLP and other parties were in no alliance for the Executive Council.

Education policy was an important issue in the campaign; although surveys saw climate and the environment as the most important issue, followed by immigration and asylum, pensions and social security, and health care. An explanation is electoral strategy, since the lowest-polling incumbent, Sylvia Steiner, was leading the education department. New candidates Priska Seiler Graf, Peter Grünenfelder, and Benno Scherrer have criticized her education policy.[10][11][12]

Opinion polls

Executive Council

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size		 M. Fehr
Ind.		 Rickli
SVP		 Stocker
SVP		 Neukom
GPS		 J. Fehr
SP		 Späh
FDP		 Steiner
DM		 P. S. Graf
SP		 Grünen­felder
FDP		 Scherrer
glp		 Hensch
AL		 Sommer
EVP		 Amrein
Ind.		 Jetzer
Aufrecht
Sotomo/Tages-Anzeiger 24 Nov – 8 Dec 2021 2'500 58 57 53 44 40 40 36 36 28 25 14 10 9 –
GfS Bern/NZZ 24 Nov – 8 Dec 2021 2'500 59 54 54 49 42 41 37 30 29 22 14 9 – 4

Cantonal Council

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size		 SVP SP FDP glp GPS DM EVP AL EDU Others Lead
Sotomo/Tages-Anzeiger 24 Nov – 8 Dec 2021 2'500 24.0 17.8 16.7 14.4 10.4 6.8 4.2 3.2 – 2.5 6.2
GfS Bern/NZZ 24 Nov – 8 Dec 2021 2'500 24.0 18.1 16.1 14.3 11.5 6.3 4.1 3.5 1.9 0.2 5.9
2019 election 24 Mar 2019 – 24.5 19.3 15.7 12.9 11.9 5.8[lower-alpha 1] 4.2 3.2 2.3 1.7 5.2
  1. ↑ Includes results from the CVP and BDP in 2019, before their merger.

Results

Executive Council

Note: percentages here are calculated based on the amount of valid votes (excluding blank and invalid votes) so that the absolute majority is at exactly 50%, but may result in candidates reaching over 100% of the valid votes.

Results of the 2023 Zürich Executive Council election
Candidate Party Votes  %
Mario Fehr[lower-roman 1] Ind. 192,711 74.20
Natalie Rickli[lower-roman 1] SVP 181,842 70.02
Ernst Stocker[lower-roman 1] SVP 177,639 68.40
Martin Neukom[lower-roman 1] Grüne 161,864 62.33
Jacqueline Fehr[lower-roman 1] SP 148,610 57.22
Sylvia Steiner[lower-roman 1] DM 146,242 56.31
Carmen Walker Späh[lower-roman 1] FDP 145,444 56.00
Priska Seiler Graf SP 120,586 46.43
Peter Grünenfelder FDP 108,395 41.74
Benno Scherrer GLP 93,603 36.04
Anne-Claude Hensch AL 80,189 30.88
Hans-Peter Amrein Ind. 62,025 23.88
Daniel Sommer EVP 42,961 16.54
Josua Dietrich Free List 28,622 11.02
Peter Vetsch Ind. 28,040 10.80
Florian Wegmann Ind. 23,521 9.06
Bernhard Schmidt Ind. 21,861 8.42
Patrick Jetzer Aufrecht 17,130 6.60
Scattered votes 46,672 17.97
Total 1,817,957 78.77
Blank votes 482,438 20.90
Invalid votes 7,589 0.33
Total votes 2,307,984 7×
Blank ballots 2,285 0.69
Invalid ballots 525 0.16
Total ballots 332,522 –
Registered voters/Turnout 929,203 35.79
Source: zh.ch,[13] Election protocol[14]

All seven incumbents were re-elected without the need for a second round.[15] Mario Fehr topped the polls with 74%, nine points below his 2019 results but nonetheless an increase of twenty thousand votes. He was followed by the two SVP candidates Natalie Rickli and Ernst Stocker, both seeing large increases in votes compared to 2019. Green councillor Martin Neukom finished 4th after being the surprise of 2019, ahead of SP councillor Jacqueline Fehr, while Sylvia Steiner and Carmen Walker Späh both defended their seats with over 56%, a margin of twenty-five thousand votes over Priska Seiler Graf who failed to swing the majority in the executive to the left.[16]

Cantonal Council

Results of the 2023 Zürich Cantonal Council election
PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Swiss People's Party79,28724.92+0.4546+1
Social Democratic Party61,48019.32+0.0136+1
FDP.The Liberals50,45615.86+0.1929–
Green Liberal Party40,56212.75−0.1624+1
Green Party33,20010.43−1.4819−3
The Centre19,1786.03+0.2111+3
Evangelical People's Party12,2773.86−0.387−1
Alternative List8,3422.62−0.535−1
Aufrecht / Free List6,8382.15New0New
Federal Democratic Union6,0281.89−0.383−1
Labour Party4370.14−0.040±0
Yes to stop growth710.02New0New
SansPapierPolitiques600.02New0New
Total318,216100.00–180–
Valid votes320,14198.69
Invalid votes3,9681.22
Blank votes2960.09
Total votes324,405100.00
Registered voters/turnout929,20334.91
Source: app.statistik.zh.ch,[17] election protocol[18][19]

This election saw little movement for most parties. The most significant changes were the Green Party losing three seats, while The Centre (merger of the CVP and BDP) re-gained three, mainly owing to the inclusion of former BDP votes that failed to pass the threshold in 2019. The SVP retained the first place and gained one seat, as did the Social-Democrats and the Green-Liberals; the EVP, AL, and EDU all lost one seat each, and the FDP's number of seats remained consistent. No new party passed the threshold, Aufrecht and the Free List came closest but did not win any seats.

The "Climate Alliance" (SP, GLP, Greens, EVP, AL) lost three seats overall but maintained a narrow majority of a single seat, while the bourgeois parties (SVP, FDP, CVP) gained four seats but failed to re-gain the majority. This puts once again the Green-Liberals as kingmakers for various legislative majorities in the elected Cantonal Council, left-leaning for social and climate issues but right-leaning for economic issues.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 "Kantonsratswahl 2023 Resultate und Infos - Wahlen & Abstimmungen | Kanton Zürich". app.statistik.zh.ch. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  2. 1 2 "Regierungsratsbeschluss Nr. 1281/2022". Kanton Zürich (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  3. 1 2 "Kantons- und Regierungsratswahlen". Kanton Zürich (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  4. 1 2 "Zürcher Wahlen 2023: So füllst du den Wahlzettel richtig aus". ZüriToday (in Swiss High German). 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hotz, Stefan; Geisseler, Zeno; Fritzsche, Daniel (2023-01-20). "Zürcher Wahlen 2023: Das Rennen um die sieben Sitze im Regierungsrat ist offen, die Mehrheiten im Kantonsrat bleiben knapp" [Zurich elections 2023: The race for the seven seats on the government council is open, majorities in the cantonal council remain narrow]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  6. ↑ "Bis zu 300'000 Franken: So finanzieren die Zürcher Regierungsratskandidaten den Wahlkampf". watson.ch (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  7. ↑ "So viel investieren Zürcher Regierungsratskandidierende in den Wahlkampf". ZüriToday (in Swiss High German). 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  8. ↑ "Wie soll Zürich regiert werden?". www.zhk.ch. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  9. ↑ Geisseler, Zeno (2022-11-12). "Das links-grüne Bündnis setzt bei den Regierungsratswahlen auf das urbane Zürich – nicht jedoch auf die GLP" [The left-green alliance is betting on urban Zurich in the Executive Council elections - but not on the GLP]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  10. 1 2 Donzé, René; Städeli, Markus; Meier, Jürg (2023-01-21). "Grünenfelder speltet Bürgerliche" [Grünenfelder splits the bourgeois]. NZZ magazin (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  11. ↑ Huber, Marius (2023-01-25). "Zürcherinnen und Zürcher leiden laut Umfrage unter Dichtestress – aber der Wahlkampf lässt dieses Thema aus" [Zürichers suffer from density stress according to a survey - but the electoral campaign omits this issue]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  12. ↑ "Wahlen im Kanton Zürich - Zürcher Wahlen: Kippt die Klima-Allianz?". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  13. ↑ "Regierungsratswahl 2023 | Resultate und Infos | Wahlen & Abstimmungen". app.statistik.zh.ch (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  14. ↑ "Protokoll der Wahlergebnisse | Erneuerungswahl von 7 Mitgliedern des Regierungsrates für die Amtsdauer 2023–2027" (PDF). 2023-02-12.
  15. ↑ "Wahlen im Kanton Zürich 2023: Alle Resultate im Überblick". ZüriToday (in Swiss High German). 2023-02-12. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
  16. 1 2 "Le Parlement zurichois reste à majorité de centre-gauche, tout le gouvernement est réélu". rts.ch (in French). 2023-02-12. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
  17. ↑ "Kantonsratswahl 2023 | Resultate und Infos | Wahlen & Abstimmungen". app.statistik.zh.ch (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  18. ↑ "Kantonsratswahl 2023 | Stimmenquorum der Listengruppen | Oberzuteilung der Sitze an die Listengruppen | Unterzuteilung der Sitze an die Listen" (PDF). 2023-02-12.
  19. ↑ "Kantonsratswahl 2023 | Gesamtergebnis der Sitzeverteilung" (PDF). 2023-02-12.
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