Reto Müller wins neck-and-neck race Left fends off SVP attack on third government seat in Bern
The balance of power in Bern's cantonal government remains unchanged. The conservatives continue to hold four seats, the left three. In parliament, however, the SVP is the big winner.
29.03.2026, 20:14
29.03.2026, 23:04
SDA
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The Bernese cantonal government remains conservative by a narrow margin.
- SVP (2 seats), FDP (1) and Center (1) continue to form the majority. The SP (2) and Greens (1) retained their seats.
- The SVP did not manage to win another seat. Reto Müller (SP) won the neck-and-neck race against Daniel Bichsel.
- The SVP, on the other hand, is the big winner in the cantonal elections.
This article was last updated at 8.14 pm.
The balance of power in Bern's cantonal government remains unchanged. The conservatives continue to hold four seats, while the left holds three. This is shown by the official result announced on Sunday evening. The left has thus fended off the SVP's attack on an additional seat.
The government council is therefore still made up of 2 SVP, 1 FDP, 1 center, 2 SP and 1 Green. The best results were achieved by three incumbents: Astrid Bärtschi (center) with 138,672 votes ahead of Evi Allemann (SP) with 129,824 votes and Philippe Müller (FDP) with 120,623 votes.
Raphael Lanz (SVP), a newcomer, followed in fourth place; the mayor of Thun received 109,078 votes, putting him ahead of his party colleague Pierre Alain Schnegg (SVP) with 108,022 votes.
National Councillor Aline Trede (Greens) made the leap into the cantonal government with 101,511 votes. There was a neck-and-neck race for the seventh government seat between Reto Müller (SP) and Daniel Bichsel (SVP) right up to the end. The Social Democrat, mayor of Langenthal, was just ahead in the end, winning 99,021 votes.
Important Jura seat
For two decades, the majority in the canton of Bern has been decided by the guaranteed seat of the Bernese Jura. Until 2016, it was in SP hands and the government was therefore red-green. Then the SVP's Schnegg won a by-election, which led to a bourgeois turnaround.
If the SVP were to hold three government seats in future, the conservative camp would no longer be dependent on the Jura seat for the majority. Schnegg has beaten every challenger there so far, this time probably also the Social Democrat Hervé Gullotti.
However, Schnegg is likely to retire in 2030, perhaps even earlier. And it is uncertain whether another middle-class politician in the Bernese Jura could beat a member of the SP or the Greens.
Outsiders and exotics have no chance
A total of 16 men and women stood for election to the cantonal government, including, as always, some political outsiders. They had no chance. The candidates from the EVP and GLP as well as a former SVP politician also had a difficult time.
Three incumbent members of the government took a relaxed view of the election: SVP man Christoph Neuhaus, Social Democrat Christoph Ammann and Green Christine Häsler did not stand again.
Slip to the right in parliament
The SVP made a clean sweep in the parliamentary elections. It won seven additional seats and now has 51 of the 160 councillors, according to an evaluation of the individual constituencies by the Keystone-SDA news agency.
The SP won four additional seats and now has 36 seats. Next in line are the FDP with an unchanged 18 seats, the Greens with 17 (-2) and the GLP with 15 (-1), followed by the Center Party with 9 (-3) and the EDU 8 (+2).
The EPP lost the most seats: it now only has 5 councillors (-4). The other parties now have a single seat (-3).
Interest in a seat in the cantonal parliament was high: 2261 women and men applied for one of the 160 seats in the Grand Council, more than ever before. The proportion of women among the candidates was around 40 percent.