Cantonal elections AG Martina Bircher joins the Aargau government for the SVP

The Aargau SVP has defended its vacant second seat in the cantonal government. The people elected National Councillor Martina Bircher. This means that a woman is once again a member of the executive. The four previous government councillors from the SVP, FDP, Center Party and SP were clearly re-elected.

Voters opted for continuity in the government council. The government council continues to include two SVP representatives and one representative each from the FDP, Center and SP. Only the GLP and the Greens, who are both represented in parliament, provided competition for the four governing parties.

All four previous councillors were clearly confirmed in office. The best result was achieved by Finance Director Markus Dieth (Center) with 96,742 votes, closely followed by Construction Director Stephan Attiger (FDP) with 94,648 votes, as announced by the Aargau State Chancellery on Sunday.

The absolute majority of 59,719 votes was also exceeded by Health Director Jean-Pierre Gallati (SVP) with 86,876 votes and Interior Director Dieter Egli (SP) with 84,254 votes.

Bircher as a "strong woman"

SVP National Councillor Martina Bircher was elected to the cantonal government at her first attempt. She received 68,127 votes. The party with the most voters in the canton of Aargau thus retained its second seat on the cantonal council, which it had won in 2016. Bircher defended the seat of Education Director Alex Hürzeler, who is stepping down after 16 years.

The 40-year-old Bircher is the first woman to sit on the cantonal government for four years. So far, the people have only elected three women to the government. "It's a super result," said Bircher on regional broadcaster Tele M1. It was a load off her mind. Bircher had prevailed against a rival within the party in the nomination for the candidacy.

Bircher has been a member of the National Council since 2019 and is the owner of a consultancy firm. The deputy mayor of Aarburg takes a tough stance on asylum and social policy. During the election campaign, she sought the political center on education and economic issues. "The strong woman for our Aargau" was the SVP politician's election slogan.

GLP National Councillor Beat Flach fell well short of the absolute majority with 46,717 votes and Green Party Councillor Ruth Müri with 46,661 votes. Flach and Müri expressed their disappointment in their reactions. Müri noted that she had achieved a better result than the polls had predicted. Eight outsider candidates clearly had no chance. Voter turnout amounted to 32.2 percent.

Moving up in the National Council

Following Bircher's election to the cantonal executive, Christian Glur is expected to move up to the National Council. The 49-year-old master farmer from Glashütten in the district of Zofingen has been a member of the Grand Council since 2009. His father, Walter Glur, was already a member of the National Council for two years until the end of 2022