Cantonal elections AG Another run: 1023 candidates for Aargau parliament

A total of 1023 candidates are running for the 140 seats in the Aargau cantonal parliament. That is almost the same number of people as four years ago. The candidates for the election on October 20 are running on 97 lists from 15 parties and groups.

The proportion of women rose to 39.6 percent, which is 1.7 points higher than in the last renewal election four years ago, as announced by the Aargau State Chancellery on Monday after the registration deadline.

With the exception of one group, all parties and groups that took part in the 2020 elections to the cantonal parliament are standing again. The following groups are new to the race: the "Musikpartei" in the district of Baden, the "DBP - DieBürgerPartei" in the district of Bremgarten and "NB - Neues Bewusstsein" in the district of Laufenburg.

The "MASS-VOLL! Bewegung für Freiheit, Souveränität & Grundrechte" is entering the race in the district of Muri and the group "Fit - Freiheit" is running with its own list in the district of Zofingen.

SVP with list number one

The youngest candidate is on the SP list in the Laufenburg district. He comes of age exactly on election Sunday. The oldest candidate, aged 77, is running on the EVP list in the Bremgarten district.

The lists submitted are given numbers. The party with the most votes in the last election receives the number one: i.e. the SVP - followed by the SP, FDP, Die Mitte, Greens, GLP and EVP. The newly submitted lists received the numbers that were not yet occupied. The allocation was decided by lot.

One more seat for Muri district

There will be a shift in seats in the Grand Council elections as a result of population growth. In future, the district of Baden will be able to send 29 representatives to Aarau instead of the previous 30.

However, following a decision by parliament at the beginning of the year, the number of seats in the Muri district will increase from 7 to 8, while the other nine districts will retain their current number of seats.

The district of Baden remains the frontrunner in terms of the number of seats on the Grand Council. It is followed by the districts of Aarau and Bremgarten with 16 seats each, Zofingen with 15 seats and Lenzburg with 13 seats.

The medium-sized districts include Brugg and Rheinfelden with 10 seats each and Kulm with 9 seats. The smallest of the eleven districts are Muri with 8 seats and Laufenburg and Zurzach with 7 seats each.

Election hurdle for small parties

The GLP and Greens made gains in the last election in 2020. SP and SVP lost seats. The SVP is the largest parliamentary group with 43 seats, ahead of the SP with 23 seats.

In contrast to the National Council elections, the parties cannot form list combinations in the Grand Council elections. Since 2009, Aargau has used the "Doppelter Pukelsheim" electoral system.

This means that the voter shares of the parties in the entire canton are calculated first, and in a second step the seats won by each party are distributed to the districts.

Small parties in Aargau must achieve a voter share of at least five percent in one of the eleven districts or three percent in the entire canton in order to win any seats at all.

The people will also elect the five members of the cantonal government on October 20. The new government and parliament elections are deliberately not being held on a federal referendum Sunday: There are fears that controversial issues could influence the elections.