"I regret the decision" Daniel Jositsch is leaving the SP - and running as an independent

Daniel Jositsch is leaving the SP with immediate effect and is also leaving the parliamentary group. The Zurich Council of States member still wants to run again in 2027 - as an independent.

Zurich Councillor of States Daniel Jositsch announced his immediate resignation from the SP on Thursday. Jositsch is thus not only leaving the party after more than 27 years, but also the SP parliamentary group.

Jositsch justified the move with political tensions within the party. He criticized the SP party leadership for wanting to align the party to the left. "There were also repeated discussions and friction with me personally," said Jositsch.

The decision by the Zurich SP to no longer nominate him for the 2027 Council of States elections was the trigger for the announcement. Jositsch said: "The decision was not easy for me and I thought it over carefully." However, he had come to the conclusion that it was more sensible to leave the party.

Jositsch wants to continue politically. He said he was "very happy to be a member of the Council of States" and wanted to run again in 2027 - as a non-party candidate. He rejected rumors of talks with other parties: "No such talks have taken place."

The SP Canton of Zurich reacted with regret. Co-President Jean-Daniel Strub thanked Jositsch for his many years of commitment, but Co-President Michèle Dünki-Bättig announced that the party intends to defend the Zurich Council of States seat in 2027 with a social democratic candidate.

It remains to be seen how Jositsch's resignation will affect his committee seats. He himself told blue News that he does not expect a legal dispute.

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2.36 pm

SP Canton Zurich regrets resignation

The SP Canton of Zurich has announced in a press release that it takes note of Jositsch's resignation "with regret". "We thank Daniel Jositsch for his many years of commitment to the SP and for his work as a member of the National Council and Council of States in Zurich", Jean-Daniel Strub, Co-President of the SP Canton of Zurich, is quoted as saying in the press release. The party is showing itself to be combative: "We are looking to the future and are sticking to our goal of defending the Zurich Council of States seat in 2027 with a social democratic candidate," said Co-President Michèle Dünki-Bättig.

2.28 pm

Press conference ends

That concludes the press conference. Jositsch will now give a few interviews as a non-party politician.

2.27 pm

Jositsch does not believe that there will be a legal dispute

When asked by blue News whether Jositsch is afraid of a legal dispute in order to keep his committee seats, Jositsch says no. He has been elected for four years.

2.23 p.m.

Is he looking forward to the dispute with the SP?

Jositsch says to the question of whether he is looking forward to having to pick up the gauntlet: "No, it's about elections."

2.19 pm

Jositsch is motivated for the election campaign

Daniel Jositsch, now a non-party member of the Council of States, announced that he is motivated for the 2027 Council of States elections. The question then arises as to what he has to say about the interview with SP member of the Council of States Eva Herzog, in which Herzog sharply criticized Jositsch's behaviour. Jositsch simply said that she had the right to make such comments. Moreover, she was firmly in line with the SP parliamentary group.

2.17 p.m.

Jositsch regrets the decision

At the request of blue News, Daniel Jositsch says that he regrets the decision to resign. "The decision was not easy for me and I thought it over carefully. However, I have come to the conclusion that it is more sensible for me to make the decision and leave the party after 27 years," says Jositsch.

blue News also wanted to know why Jositsch believes that he is entitled to the important seats in the Council of States committees. The reason: the number of seats in the committees is distributed according to group strength. Groups are comparable to parliamentary groups in the Federal Assembly.

2.05 p.m.

Jositsch's decision

With this in mind, Jositsch has now considered what he is doing. "I have decided to resign from the Social Democratic Party with immediate effect," says Jositsch.

He is also resigning from the parliamentary group. "I really enjoy being a member of the Council of States," says Jositsch, pointing out that he believes voters also see it that way. He therefore wants to run again in 2027.

But how will he do that? Jositsch responds to the rumors and says: "No such talks have taken place." Instead, he wants to return to the session as a non-party member. He is not the first non-party member of the Council of States.

However, Jositsch says that he will retain his committee seats. As a reminder, he received these seats as an SP member of the Council of States. Committee seats are allocated to the parliamentary groups in accordance with the law.

2.02 p.m.

Jositsch criticizes SP party leadership

Then comes Jositsch's criticism of the SP party leadership: they had wanted to steer the party to the left. Left-wing people had been promoted and nominated for office. Jositsch has recently experienced this development more intensively. "There have also been repeated discussions and friction with me personally," says Jositsch. He therefore contacted the party leadership a few months ago to clarify the situation. He had no desire to defend his seat in the canton of Zurich and to have to stand there and cast votes while people were not happy with him.

He had suggested to the party leadership that an early nomination process be carried out in which the delegates could clearly decide whether they wanted Jositsch or not. "I deliberately didn't want to influence the decision," says Jositsch. "If you want me, then you have me - but with the positions I represent," Jositsch said at the time. The delegates decided against him. "I don't hold that against the party," says Jositsch.

2.00 p.m.

Daniel Jositsch tells the story from his perspective

Daniel Jositsch welcomes the journalists present and recaps the history from his perspective: the SP has different wings. Various federal parliamentarians, including Pasquale Bruderer, had founded a liberal wing of the SP in order to show the outside world that these currents existed.

"That was ten years ago. This was received with joy and a certain amount of reassurance by the former party leadership," says Jositsch. Jositsch then mentions the name Mario Fehr: when he left the party, people were happy that the social-liberal platform existed. "People were very grateful that this was the case. In the meantime - and you have all noticed this - the situation within the SP has changed," says Jositsch.

1.55 p.m.

Jositsch is about to talk about his political future

Daniel Jositsch has taken his seat. And waits stoically for the clock to show 2 pm. He has taken a folded A4 sheet of paper with him. From a short distance, you can see that he will probably be brief today.

1.46 pm

Daniel Jositsch wears a blue tie (in line with rumors)

SP Councillor of States Daniel Jositsch has just arrived in the small conference hall. The first photos are taken. According to the announcement, Jositsch will not speak until 2 pm. Before that, there is time to read the reports from other media.

The Tages-Anzeiger newspaper speculated in a commentary that Jositsch could also switch to the FDP group. The reason is said to be a clandestine conversation with former FDP president Thierry Burkart. It is unclear how hard these rumors are. Jositsch also held talks with SP members this morning. After all, the blue tie would suit the FDP.

1:22 p.m.

Partial surprise at the KV association

The blue News reporter arrived at the headquarters of the Kaufmännischer Verband a few minutes ago. The employees' association is located above the famous "Kaufleuten" building (or vice versa: in the famous "Kaufleuten", people dance below the association's offices at weekends).

Surprisingly, not all of the employees here seem to be aware of the important announcement that their president will be making today. As the blue News reporter is led through the corridors of the association, the following can be heard from one room: "Did I hear right, press conference? Why and with whom?"

The press conference is still empty, with the exception of another cameraman from the Keystone-SDA news agency. There will be more news here at 2 pm.

12.13 p.m.

Press conference starts at 2 pm

Daniel Jositsch's press conference will take place at 2 p.m. at the headquarters of the Kaufmännischer Verband Schweiz. blue News is currently on its way to Zurich to report on the press conference.

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The SP politician Daniel Jositsch has invited to a media conference today, Thursday, at 2 pm. He wants to inform the public about his political future after his party decided not to nominate him for the 2027 Council of States elections. Jositsch himself had called for this decision more than a year before the elections.

Until shortly before the media conference, it remained unclear how Jositsch's political career would continue. On Thursday morning, he attended the meeting of the Council of States. There he sat next to the SP veteran from Geneva, Carlo Sommaruga, with whom he exchanged a few words. Jositsch appeared thoughtful at times and in a good mood at others.

It is conceivable that Jositsch - like other former SP politicians - will leave the party, run for another party or end his political work altogether.

The professor of criminal law at the University of Zurich is 61 years old and was elected to the Council of States in 2015. If he were re-elected in 2027, he would reach retirement age in the following parliamentary term. However, there is no such age for members of parliament.

A candidacy for the GLP is considered rather unlikely. The Zurich Green Liberals already have one member of the Council of States, Tiana Moser. The fact that both seats in the Zurich Council of States are held by the same party could become a problem at the next elections at the latest.

One thing is clear: Majority elections can also be successfully won in Zurich without a party. This is shown by the example of Mario Fehr, who was elected to the government council as a Social Democrat and has since left the party. Fehr did not want to comment on the question of whether he had advised Jositsch shortly before today's press conference. However, he said that he was doing very well.

Correction: An initial version of the article stated that Jositsch is a professor of constitutional law. Correct: He is a professor of criminal law and criminal procedure. The paragraph has been corrected.

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