Greens surge in Swiss election as climate change worries come to the fore

Record ID: 1437673

  • Title: Greens surge in Swiss election as climate change worries come to the fore
  • Date: 20th October 2019
  • Summary: BERN, SWITZERLAND (OCTOBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES, MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS WATCHING FIRST RESULTS ON TELEVISION, CHEERING AND APPLAUDING WHEN HEARING ELECTION RESULTS FOR BERN CANTON VARIOUS OF GREEN PARTY SUPPORTERS WATCHING ELECTION RESULTS BEING ANNOUNCED ON TELEVISION (SOUNDBITE) (English) 18-YEAR-OLD CANDIDATE WITH THE YOUNG GREEN PARTY, YANNICK VERMUTH, SAYING: "It is just a great day for the Greens. It is a step into a new future, into a better future for our planet. And I am just happy about it. It is great!" GREEN PARTY SUPPORTERS GATHERED IN FRONT OF THE RESTAURANT WHICH SERVES AS HEADQUARTERS FOR THE PARTY SUPPORTERS LISTENING TO GREEN PARTY PRESIDENT, REGULA RYTZ RYTZ DELIVERING SPEECH SUPPORTER LISTENING SUPPORTERS APPLAUDING AT END OF RYTZ'S SPEECH VARIOUS GREEN PARTY SUPPORTERS HAVING A DRINK ELECTORAL POSTER READING (German): "OUR CLIMATE YOUR CHOICE" (SOUNDBITE) (French) GREEN PARTY PRESIDENT, REGULA RYTZ, SAYING: "It is really incredible, I am still trying to come to terms with what is happening right now, with all these seats that we have already won, in the cantons (member states of Swiss Confederation), at the Council of States (Switzerland's upper house). It is really incredible... and it is really moving to see how people are now hoping that the Greens are the ones who are going to make the difference now." RYTZ CLAPPING AND SMILING AS SHE LEARNS THE FIRST ESTIMATION FOR ZURICH CANTON VARIOUS OF GREEN PARTY MEMBERS CHECKING RESULTS ON LAPTOPS STICKER ON LAPTOP READING (English): "DESTROY THE PATRIARCHY, NOT THE PLANET" (SOUNDBITE) (French) GREEN PARTY PRESIDENT, REGULA RYTZ, SAYING: "I really think that people have realised that our economy has worked against nature for dozens of years, and that we cannot go on like this. At the same time, these people are confident that the Green Party, which is the party which has been working on these issues for years, is the most competent to deal with them, and to come up with pragmatic, realistic solutions to that end. So now, we have a lot of work to do." GREEN PARTY MEMBER CHECKING RESULTS ON LAPTOP
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2019 18:17
  • Keywords: Swiss election elections Switzerland voting results Swiss election results
  • Location: BERN, SWITZERLAND
  • City: BERN, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B1WIZIF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Support for the Greens surged in Switzerland's election on Sunday (October 20), moving politics to the left and putting environmentalists in the mix for a seat in the broad coalition that has governed the country for decades.
    The Green party president, along with candidates and supporters, burst into applause and cheers at the party's headquarters in the Swiss capital of Bern, as they learned the Federal Elections' early results showing gains higher than expected.
    The far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) remained in first place, according to projections, but like other big parties, it lost ground as environmentalist parties seized on voters' concerns about climate change to shake up the political establishment.
    Switzerland is especially vulnerable to climate change as temperatures in the country are rising twice as quickly as the global average.
    The SVP, which won a record number of seats in 2015 amid Europe's refugee crisis, slipped 3.6 points to 25.8% while the Greens' share surged 5.9 points to 13.0% of the vote for the lower house, according to a gfs.bern projection for broadcaster SRF.
    The smaller, more centrist Green Liberal Party (GLP) advanced to 7.9%, bringing the two parties' combined strength to nearly 21%, should they overcome policy differences and decide to join forces.
    Together they gained 26 seats in the 200-seat lower house, potentially putting them in line to take one of the seats in the seven-seat cabinet, the Federal Council.
    Changing just one member of the cabinet would be a political sensation. The Greens have never had a seat in the federal government.
    Cabinet seats have been divvied up among the SVP, SP, FDP and CVP in nearly the same way since 1959.
    (Production: Marina Depetris, Louisa Naks)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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