2007 Zürich cantonal elections

The 2007 Zürich cantonal elections were held on 15 April 2007, to elect the seven members of the cantonal Executive Council and the 180 members of the Cantonal Council.

2007 Zürich cantonal elections

← 2003 15 April 2007 2011 →

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
 
Party Free Democrats Social Democrats
Elected Ursula Gut
151,730, 86.29%
Markus Notter
128,384, 73.01%
Thomas Heiniger
133,768, 76.07%
Regine Aeppli
121,671, 69.19%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Swiss People's Christian Democrats
Elected Markus Kägi
112,995, 64.26%
Hans Hollenstein
136,977, 77.90%
Rita Fuhrer
112,607, 64.04%
Cantonal Council
Party Vote % Seats +/–
Swiss People's

30.46% 56 −5
Social Democrats

19.47% 36 −17
Free Democrats

15.98% 29 0
Greens

10.44% 19 +5
Christian Democrats

7.25% 13 +1
Green Liberals

5.75% 10 New
Evangelical People's

5.23% 10 +1
Federal Democrats

2.82% 5 +4
Alternative List

1.26% 2 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

The FDP-SVP alliance gained a majority in the Executive Council by winning four seats. In the Cantonal Council, the SVP retained a plurality but the SVP-FDP alliance lost their overall majority, resulting in a more fragmented council.

Electoral system

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Executive Council

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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.

Cantonal Council

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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.[1]

This method was new compared to the simple allocation per constituency used in the last election; it was expected to help the smaller parties.[2]

Candidates

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Executive Council

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The FDP and SVP ran together as the "4 wins" ticket, hoping to together regain a majority on the Executive Council after having lost it to Hans Hollenstein in 2005. The FDP fielded incumbent councillor Ursula Gut (elected in a by-election the year before to replace retiring councillor Dorothé Fierz) as well as Thomas Heiniger (as a replacement for Rüdi Jecker who stood down) while the SVP ran incumbent councillors Markus Kägi and Rita Fuhrer.

The CVP ran without a formal alliance with the FDP and SVP but benefited from informal support. Incumbent christian-democratic councillor Hans Hollenstein ran for re-election as the party's sole candidate.

Both social-democratic incumbent councillors, Markus Notter and Regine Aeppli, ran for re-election.

Incumbent councillor Verena Diener had been elected in 2003 as a Green and had switched the next year to the Green Liberal Party; she did not run for re-election, opting to join federal politics by contesting the election to the Council of States. The Green-Liberals ran party leader and national councillor Martin Bäumle while the Greens fielded Illnau-Effretikon mayor Martin Graf.[3]

Cantonal Council

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

Name Ideology 2003 result
Votes (%) Seats
SVP Swiss People's Party
Schweizerische Volkspartei
National conservatism
Right-wing populism
30.2%
61 / 180
SP Social Democratic Party
Sozialdemokratische Partei
Social democracy
Democratic socialism
26.2%
53 / 180
FDP Free Democratic Party
Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei
Liberalism
Conservative liberalism
15.9%
28 / 180
GPS Green Party
Grüne Partei
Green politics
Progressivism
7.9%
14 / 180
CVP Christian Democratic People's Party
Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei
Christian democracy
Social conservatism
6.4%
13 / 180
EVP Evangelical People's Party
Evangelische Volkspartei
Christian democracy
Social conservatism
5.1%
9 / 180
EDU Federal Democratic Union
Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union
National conservatism 2.1%
1 / 180
SD Swiss Democrats
Schweizer Demokraten
Nationalism 1.4%
1 / 180
AL Alternative List
Alternative Liste
Socialism 0.9%
1 / 180
GLP Green Liberal Party
Grünliberale Partei
Green liberalism
Social liberalism
Did not exist

Results

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Executive Council

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Note: percentages here are calculated based on the number 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 2007 Zürich Executive Council election
Candidate Party Votes %
Ursula Gut (Inc.) FDP 151,730 86.29
Hans Hollenstein (Inc.) CVP 136,977 77.90
Thomas Heiniger FDP 133,768 76.07
Markus Notter (Inc.) SP 128,384 73.01
Regine Aeppli (Inc.) SP 121,671 69.19
Markus Kägi SVP 112,995 64.26
Rita Fuhrer (Inc.) SVP 112,607 64.04
Martin Graf Grüne 97,542 55.47
Martin Bäumle glp 90,851 51.67
Johannes Zollinger EVP 46,686 26.55
Markus Alder SD 8,535 4.85
Scattered votes 89,156 50.70
Total 1,230,902 67.87
Blank votes 571,362 31.51
Invalid votes 11,275 0.62
Total votes 1,813,539
Total ballots 268,742
Registered voters/Turnout 820,414 32.76
Source: Official Journal[4]

The SVP and FDP's "4 wins" ticket succeeded with all four candidates elected and re-gained their seat lost two years earlier; both the FDP candidates polled significantly higher than the SVP ones. CVP candidate Hans Hollenstein also retained his seat in second place, along with both SP councillors. Green candidate Martin Graf and Green-Liberal candidate Martin Bäumle both failed despite reaching overall majorities.[1][3]

Results by district

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Vote share of each candidate by district
District Aeppli
SP
Alder
SD
Bäumle
GLP
Fuhrer
SVP
Graf
GPS
Gut
FDP
Hein.
FDP
Holl.
CVP
Kägi
SVP
Notter
SP
Zoll.
EVP
Scattered
Affoltern 67.0 2.7 51.1 72.6 51.2 95.3 84.7 68.8 69.8 71.0 20.4 45.4
Andelfingen 53.4 2.5 34.7 90.7 48.9 103.2 90.7 64.5 84.3 59.5 20.3 47.2
Bülach 62.1 4.2 53.0 66.9 49.6 85.9 78.0 77.3 71.3 65.8 28.5 57.3
Dielsdorf 61.8 4.4 49.9 69.6 46.9 89.3 80.9 75.0 75.1 63.9 26.3 57.0
Dietikon 64.7 4.5 36.7 76.6 41.3 93.7 83.6 77.3 75.7 72.3 20.7 53.0
Hinwil 58.2 3.7 49.4 76.2 48.2 92.4 82.8 73.8 73.2 62.4 32.7 46.8
Horgen 63.8 2.1 47.6 67.2 47.3 85.8 79.7 78.5 65.6 67.0 37.9 57.7
Meilen 58.3 3.3 46.0 76.0 40.0 105.1 92.7 71.1 77.6 60.5 22.5 46.9
Pfäffikon 61.7 8.5 49.6 67.4 62.1 87.9 75.0 79.8 67.0 66.6 34.6 39.7
Uster 66.0 2.8 68.6 61.4 48.8 88.3 77.1 73.8 62.8 68.1 26.7 55.7
Winterthur 68.1 2.1 44.2 61.5 64.2 79.2 68.5 92.8 60.7 75.0 27.1 56.5
Zürich 88.3 9.1 58.6 47.9 70.8 75.2 64.3 78.7 48.3 91.1 22.3 45.3
Total 69.2 4.9 51.7 64.0 55.5 86.3 76.1 77.9 64.3 73.0 26.5 50.7

Cantonal Council

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Results of the 2007 Zürich Cantonal Council election
2
19
36
10
10
29
13
56
5
PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Swiss People's Party85,05630.46+0.2656−5
Social Democratic Party54,36319.47−6.6836−17
Free Democratic Party44,62215.98+0.0929±0
Green Party29,15510.44+2.6019+5
Christian Democratic People's Party20,2357.25+0.8913+1
Green Liberal Party16,0715.75New10New
Evangelical People's Party14,6085.23+0.1210+1
Federal Democratic Union7,8652.82+0.715+4
Swiss Democrats3,7021.33−0.020−1
Alternative List/PdA3,5321.26+0.052+2
Ueli Hanf list540.02New0New
Total279,263100.00180
Source: Official Journal[5]

The Swiss People's Party won a plurality but lost five seats, resulting in the SVP-FDP alliance losing their narrow majority in the Council. The social democrats suffered a loss of 17 seats, their losses were mainly attributed to voters switching to the greens (who gained five seats) and green-liberals (who entered the Council with ten seats). The CVP and EVP saw similar results to four years earlier, while the EDU gained four seats from the new apportionment rule. The Alternative List regained representation while the Swiss Democrats failed to clear the threshold of 5% in any of the constituencies. The resulting Council was seen as more unpredictable since it did not have any expected coalition anymore.[2]

The SP's large losses were seen as the main change in this elections,[1] though their outgoing 53 seats had been their highest seat count since 1955, meaning this election was only their worst result since 1987. The Greens and Green-liberals were seen as the main gains of this election, together now representing a sixth of the Council.[2]

Results by constituency

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Number of seats and share of votes for each party by constituency
Constituency SVP SP FDP GPS CVP GLP EVP EDU AL Total
seats
SVP SP FDP GPS CVP GLP EVP EDU SD AL UH
I Zürich City 1 & 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 19.9 27.1 21.3 13.2 6.7 5.6 1.7 1.0 1.4 2.1
II Zürich City 3 & 9 3 3 1 2 1 1 0 0 1 12 24.8 28.6 8.1 12.9 8.5 5.4 4.2 1.0 3.0 3.3 0.3
III Zürich City 4 & 5 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 14.9 32.9 6.7 20.8 4.4 7.6 1.1 0.4 1.8 9.3
IV Zürich City 6 & 10 2 3 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 9 19.5 29.2 14.5 15.4 6.4 6.5 3.6 0.8 1.3 2.8
V Zürich City 7 & 8 1 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 7 15.7 22.3 24.0 17.3 6.5 7.3 3.4 0.6 0.9 2.0
VI Zürich City 11 & 12 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 12 29.7 26.6 10.0 10.1 8.3 4.5 4.1 1.6 3.8 1.3
VII Dietikon 4 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 11 38.0 17.7 16.7 6.7 11.0 2.9 4.2 1.3 1.0 0.7
XIII Affoltern 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 6 31.2 18.5 19.4 7.3 5.5 6.1 7.7 3.4 0.4 0.5
IX Horgen 4 2 4 1 2 1 1 0 0 15 29.0 17.1 21.3 10.1 8.9 4.9 5.5 1.9 0.6 0.6
X Meilen 4 2 3 1 1 1 0 1 0 13 31.4 15.8 26.6 6.3 6.7 6.2 3.6 2.8 0.5 0.3
XI Hinwil 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 11 33.4 13.6 12.2 10.2 8.6 5.0 7.1 7.5 1.8 0.6
XII Uster 5 2 3 1 1 2 1 1 0 16 32.5 17.3 14.8 6.7 6.7 12.1 4.3 3.2 1.7 0.6
XIII Pfäffikon 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 7 35.5 14.1 12.5 13.2 5.4 3.8 9.3 4.5 1.3 0.3
XIV Winterthur City 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 13 24.1 22.1 13.6 13.0 8.9 5.0 6.9 2.7 1.3 2.3
XV Winterthur Land 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 7 38.9 14.0 13.7 8.8 6.1 3.7 9.9 3.8 0.7 0.4
XVI Andelfingen 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 42.3 13.2 16.9 10.3 3.0 3.1 5.0 4.3 0.4 1.5
XVII Bülach 6 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 17 36.4 17.6 14.3 8.7 6.5 5.3 6.1 3.5 1.1 0.4
XVIII Dielsdorf 4 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 10 43.0 16.1 11.8 9.2 6.3 5.1 3.5 3.7 1.0 0.3
Total 56 36 29 19 1 103 10 5 2 180 30.5 19.5 16.0 10.4 7.3 5.8 5.2 2.8 1.3 1.3 0.0

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Wieder klar bürgerliche Regierung im Kanton Zürich" (in German). swissinfo.ch. 2007-04-15.
  2. ^ a b c Hohl, Sabine (2007-04-15). "Kantonsratswahlen Zürich 2007". anneepolitique.ch. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
  3. ^ a b Hohl, Sabine (2007-04-15). "Regierungsratswahlen Zürich 2007". anneepolitique.ch. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  4. ^ "Erneuerungswahl der Mitglieder des Regierungsrates, Ergebnisse" (PDF) (in German). No. 16. Official Journal of the Canton of Zürich. 2007-04-20. p. 448. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  5. ^ "Erneuerungswahl der Mitglieder des Kantonsrates für die Amtsdauer 2007–2011 vom 15. April 2007, Ergebnisse, Publikation" (PDF) (in German). No. 16. Official Journal of the Canton of Zürich. 2007-04-20. p. 452. Retrieved 2022-10-18.