Executive Bern municipal council open to seven instead of five seats

Bern's municipal council is open to increasing the city government from five to seven seats. It makes this clear in its response to an urgent intergroup motion.

In its view, there is no single right size of government, according to the response published on Tuesday. Various aspects need to be weighed up. The municipal council does not want to close itself off to the debate and is looking forward to the discussion in the city council.

The debate is scheduled for October 17. If parliament declares the proposal to be substantial, the municipal council intends to quickly start work on revising the municipal regulations. The people will have the final say.

The motion comes from the SP/Juso, GB/JA, AL/PdA, Grüne Freie Liste and SVP parliamentary groups. The reason given is that the city is growing. With seven municipal councillors, the organization of the directorates could be optimized. The workload could also be better distributed.

Bern's municipal council has consisted of five members for 20 years. Previously there were seven.

In its response to the request, the municipal council points out that the number of government members varies in other cities. There are nine in Zurich and seven each in Geneva, Basel, Lausanne, Winterthur and Lugano. In Lucerne, St. Gallen and Biel, there are five.

Based purely on efficiency and organizational considerations, the municipal council sees no compelling reasons to increase the number of seats. However, there are of course other aspects.

SDA