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By APD writer Aditya Nugraha
BERN, Oct. 21 (APD) New centrist parties with environmental focus have secured combined votes of 20 percent in Switzerland’s Sunday parliament election amid growing environmental issues in the country.
With the combined votes, the Green Party and the Green Liberals were expected to eventually secure 26 seats in the 200-seat lower house parliament, potentially in line to win a place in the seven-seat governing cabinet called the Federal Council.
The Green Party saw enormous vote surge of 5.6 points to 12.7 percent in the latest election compared to 2015. Meanwhile the Green Liberals obtained 7.6 percent vote from the previous 4.6 percent.
The right-wing and anti-immigration Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has the largest vote share at 25.8 percent, but slipped 3.6 points. The SVP had won a record number of seats in 2015 amid Europe’s refugee crisis.
Meanwhile, the center-left Social Democrats won second place with 16.6 percent of the vote, while the center-right FDP came in at 15.3 per cent.
A political analyst from Gfs Bern research institute said the vote surges obtained by the green parties were surprising as it happened in the French-speaking part of the country.
“Swiss voters were concerned about climate issues and want parliament to act accordingly,” he said.
Through mechanism in the parliament, government will be elected in December. Switzerland’s presidency rotates between the members of the seven members of the Federal Council on an annual basis.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)