Cantonal elections VS Balance of power in Valais government unlikely to change
The government and parliament in the canton of Valais will be newly elected this Sunday. The party-political composition of the State Council (2 center, 1 FDP, 1 SVP and 1 SP) is not expected to change. A low voter turnout is expected.
02.03.2025, 04:30
SDA
There are only six candidates in the running for the five seats in the cantonal government, five men and one woman. The re-election of the three current state councillors Christophe Darbellay (center), Franz Ruppen (SVP) and Mathias Reynard (SP) is as good as certain.
The seats of Roberto Schmidt (social-liberal center) and Frédéric Favre (FDP), who are not running again, are contested. Franziska Biner (center) has the best chance of winning the seat of Schmidt, who is retiring.
The 39-year-old trained architect is Vice-President of Zermatt, a member of the Grand Council and chairwoman of Mitte Oberwallis. After Esther Waeber-Kalbermatten (SP, 2009-2021), Biner would be the second female state councillor in the history of the canton.
With only two candidates (Biner and Darbellay), the Center Party has decided against attempting to regain the majority it lost in the executive four years ago. Back then, the third centrist seat went to the SVP.
Stéphane Ganzer is the favorite to fill the seat of FDP councillor Favre, who is stepping down after two terms in office. The councillor and mayor of Noble-Contrée is the only FDP candidate. He has already overcome perhaps the most difficult hurdle by beating Sonia Tauss-Cornut, the leader of the parliamentary group in the Grand Council, within the party.
The Green candidate, MP Emmanuel Revaz, is only playing an outsider's role. As the SP and the Greens are not united in the elections this time, Revaz cannot even benefit from being on the same list as Reynard.
Greens in the headwind
The Greens have already had a difficult autumn. They lost several seats in the municipal elections. In addition, the people of Valais said no to the climate law.
It is possible that the Greens will also lose ground in the elections to the cantonal parliament. The Grand Council of the canton of Valais currently consists of 130 representatives and the same number of deputies. In the 2025 elections, the district of Saint-Maurice will be allocated an additional seat, while the district of Visp will lose a seat due to population growth.
French-speaking Valais will therefore have 98 deputies and Upper Valais 32 deputies in the next legislative period. In the elections four years ago, the Centre party emerged as the strongest force with 48 seats, ahead of the FDP (27), the SVP (22), the SP (15), the Greens (13), the CSP Lower Valais (4) and the Entremont Autrement grouping (1).
