Cantonal elections NE Red-Greens want to topple bourgeois majority in Neuchâtel
The united left wants to regain the majority in the Neuchâtel government.
Image: Keystone
The conservatives are also joining forces and are running with a joint list.
Image: Keystone
The united left wants to regain the majority in the Neuchâtel government.
Image: Keystone
The conservatives are also joining forces and are running with a joint list.
Image: Keystone
New government and parliament elections will be held in the canton of Neuchâtel this Sunday. The united left wants to regain the majority in the government it lost to the FDP in 2021. The FDP is countering with a first-time alliance with the SVP and the center party.
23.03.2025, 04:31
SDA
A fiercely contested election between the two blocs is expected. In the last elections in 2021, the Liberals won an absolute majority of three seats in the five-member Neuchâtel State Council. The SP, which had held three of the five government seats since 2013, lost one seat.
Four of the incumbents are running again: Frédéric Mairy and Florence Nater from the SP, and the two Liberal Democrats Crystel Graf and Laurent Favre. Alain Ribaux (FDP) is not standing for election.
A total of 19 candidates are standing, including seven women. The second round of this major election is scheduled for April 13.
SVP with good chances
One of the most likely scenarios is that the right-wing party will defend its three seats, but that SVP candidate Thierry Brechbühler, municipal councillor of La Chaux-de-Fonds, will join incumbents Graf and Favre in the State Council.
Thanks to the alliance with the SVP and the center, the FDP seems to have come to terms with the fact that it will no longer have three seats in the government.
Three favorites on the left
Another conceivable scenario is that the left wins three seats. In this case, the two incumbents from the SP, Florence Nater and Frédéric Mairy, as well as Céline Vara, member of the Council of States for the Greens, would be the favorites.
The Green Liberals (GLP), who want to play a key role between the two blocs, have very little chance of being elected, as do the other seven candidates.
Battle for parliamentary seats
The left is also hoping for a majority in the Grand Council, where elections are based on the proportional representation system. A total of 487 people are running for one of the 100 seats.
The FDP has 32 seats, the SP 21, the Greens 19, the PdA, the SVP and the Green Liberals (GLP) 8 each and the center 4. On the right, the SVP could win seats at the expense of the weakening FDP.
The center parties in parliament, which played a pivotal role in this legislative period, could lose ground. Both the Green Liberals and the center have a less extensive list than in 2021.
On the left, it remains to be seen whether the SP can continue its upward trend and whether the Greens and the Labor Party can retain or increase their seats.
