2015 Zürich cantonal elections

2015 Zürich cantonal elections

18 April 2015
All 7 seats in the Executive Council of Zürich All 180 seats in the Cantonal Council of Zürich (91 seats needed for a majority)
Executive Council
First party Second party   Party FDP.The Liberals Social Democrats Elected Thomas Heiniger 150,557, 82.83% Mario Fehr 146,307, 80.49%   Carmen W. Späh 116,058, 63.85% Jacqueline Fehr 115,618, 63.61%   Third party Fourth party   Party Swiss People's Christian Democrats Elected Ernst Stocker 145,205, 79.88% Sylvia Steiner 118,477, 65.18%   Markus Kägi 136,563, 75.13%
Cantonal Council
Party % Seats +/– Swiss People's 30.02% 54 0 Social Democrats 19.67% 36 +1 FDP.The Liberals 17.33% 31 +8 Green Liberals 7.64% 14 −5 Greens 7.22% 13 −6 Christian Democrats 4.88% 9 0 Evangelical People's 4.27% 8 +1 BDP 2.62% 5 −1 Federal Democrats 2.66% 5 0 Alternative List 2.98% 5 +2 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

The 2015 Zürich cantonal elections were held on 12 April 2015, to elect the seven members of the cantonal Executive Council and the 180 members of the Cantonal Council.

This election resulted in a large gain for the bourgeois parties (SVP, FDP, CVP), as the FDP gained eight seats in the Cantonal Council and the CVP gained one executive councilor, resulting in the alliance holding an overall majority in the national council and five of the seven executive councilors.

Electoral system

Executive Council

The Executive Council contains 7 members elected using a two-round majoritarian system. In the first round, electors have up to seven votes and the 7 most-voted candidates reaching an overall majority (>50%) are elected. If seats remain to be filled, a runoff is held where electors have as many votes as seats remaining, and the candidates with the most votes (simple plurality) are elected.

Cantonal Council

The Cantonal Council is elected using open-list proportional representation, with canton-wide apportionment of seats and allocation into 18 constituencies (biproportional apportionment). In each constituency, voters have as many votes as there are seats to fill (panachage is permitted); these votes each count both for the candidate and for the list they stand in. These votes counts are divided by the seats count to give fictional electors counts which can be summed up fairly throughout the canton.

Using the fictional electors counts, each party above the threshold (reaching 5% in at least one constituency) is apportioned seats canton-wide, which are then shared among their constituency lists. In each constituency list, the seats are attributed to the candidates reaching the most votes.

Number of seats by constituency

Constituency		Seats	Change
I	Zürich city districts 1 & 2	4	−1
II	Zürich city districts 3 & 9	12	=
III	Zürich city districts 4 & 5	5	=
IV	Zürich city districts 6 & 10	9	=
V	Zürich city districts 7 & 8	6	=
VI	Zürich city districts 11 & 12	12	=
VII	Dietikon	11	=
VIII	Affoltern	6	=
IX	Horgen	15	=
X	Meilen	13	=
XI	Hinwil	12	=
XII	Uster	16	=
XIII	Pfäffikon	7	=
XIV	Winterthur city	13	=
XV	Winterthur land	7	=
XVI	Andelfingen	4	=
XVII	Bülach	17	=
XVIII	Dielsdorf	11	+1

Candidates

Executive Council

Five of the seven incumbents councilors ran for re-election: Mario Fehr (SP), Thomas Heiniger (FDP), Ernst Stocker (SVP), Markus Kägi (SVP), and Martin Graf (Grüne). The first four were seen as safe seats.

Incumbent councilors Ursula Gut (FDP) and Regine Aeppli (SP) stood down, with cantonal councilor Carmen Walker Späh (FDP) and national councilor Jacqueline Fehr (SP) running to replace them. Former councilor Hans Hollenstein (CVP) defeated narrowly in 2011 did not run, with the CVP running cantonal councilor Sylvia Steiner in his place.

The bourgeois parties (SVP, FDP, and CVP) ran as the "top-5" ticket, with the goals of unseating Martin Graf and gaining a fifth councilor for the alliance. The pre-election polls showed a tight race between Steiner and Graf for the last seat.

Three candidates from minor parties ran: Markus Bischoff for the Alternative List, Nik Gugger for the EVP, and Marcel Lenggenhager for the BDP.

Cantonal Council

The table below lists contesting parties represented in the Cantonal Council before the election.

Name			Ideology	2011 result
				Votes (%)	Seats
	SVP	Swiss People's Party Schweizerische Volkspartei	National conservatism Right-wing populism	29.6%	54 / 180
	SP	Social Democratic Party Sozialdemokratische Partei	Social democracy Democratic socialism	19.3%	35 / 180
	FDP	FDP.The Liberals FDP.Die Liberalen	Classical liberalism Conservative liberalism	12.9%	23 / 180
	GPS	Green Party Grüne Partei	Green politics Progressivism	10.6%	19 / 180
	GLP	Green Liberal Party Grünliberale Partei	Green liberalism Social liberalism	10.3%	19 / 180
	CVP	Christian Democratic People's Party Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei	Christian democracy Social conservatism	4.9%	9 / 180
	EVP	Evangelical People's Party Evangelische Volkspartei	Christian democracy Social conservatism	3.8%	7 / 180
	BDP	Conservative Democratic Party Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei	Christian democracy Social conservatism	3.5%	6 / 180
	EDU	Federal Democratic Union Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union	National conservatism	2.6%	5 / 180
	AL	Alternative List Alternative Liste	Socialism	1.6%	3 / 180

The Pirate Party ran again, along with Integrale Politik ZH and the Young Socialists, while the Swiss Democrats did not run, meaning a total of 13 parties contested this election, as many as in 2011.

Results

Executive Council

Note: percentages here are calculated based on the amount of valid votes (excluding blank and invalid votes) so that the absolute majority is at exactly 50%, but may result in candidates reaching over 100% of the valid votes.

Results of the 2015 Zürich Executive Council election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Thomas Heiniger	FDP	150,557	82.83
	Mario Fehr	SP	146,307	80.49
	Ernst Stocker	SVP	145,205	79.88
	Markus Kägi	SVP	136,563	75.13
	Sylvia Steiner	CVP	118,477	65.18
	Carmen Walker Späh	FDP	116,058	63.85
	Jacqueline Fehr	SP	115,618	63.61
	Martin Graf	Grüne	109,625	60.31
	Markus Bischoff	AL	67,103	36.92
	Nik Gugger	EVP	42,623	23.45
	Marcel Lenggenhager	BDP	42,443	23.35
	Dani Schafroth	Ind.	9,625	5.30
Scattered votes			72,224	39.73
Total			1,272,428	66.52
Blank and invalid votes			736,318	39.50
Total votes			1,864,016	7×
Valid ballots			266,288	96.79
Invalid ballots			8,829	3.21
Total ballots			275,117	–
Registered voters/Turnout			879,262	31.29
Source:

This election was an upset in the opposite direction than 2011. CVP candidate Sylvia Steiner regained the CVP's seat while overtaking both Carmen Walker Späh and Jacqueline Fehr, who were expected to perform better. Green candidate Martin Graf lost his seat by a margin of six thousand votes behind Jacqueline Fehr.

Thomas Heiniger topped the polls with over 82%, overtaking Mario Fehr for first place. The four regular incumbents (Heiniger, M. Fehr, Stocker, and Kägi) were re-elected comfortably while the race was closer between the other candidates. Both SVP candidates saw their vote share slightly increase.

The "top-5" ticket of bourgeois parties won in an upset, with five of the top six candidates, and flipping a fifth seat in the council.

Results by district

Vote share of each candidate by district

District	Bisc. AL	J. Fehr SP	M. Fehr SP	Graf GPS	Gugg. EVP	Hein. FDP	Kägi SVP	Leng. BDP	Schaf. Ind.	Stei. CVP	Stoc. SVP	Späh FDP	Scattered
Affoltern	30.4	61.1	77.7	59.8	21.0	85.1	81.0	20.1	5.6	68.4	85.0	67.1	37.8
Andelfingen	22.4	53.5	68.6	54.4	28.3	83.8	94.2	25.8	4.9	64.0	97.9	62.4	39.6
Bülach	25.0	54.1	73.6	51.2	26.1	85.2	85.1	26.0	5.0	67.4	89.4	65.7	46.3
Dielsdorf	21.2	50.7	69.0	48.7	22.0	88.2	96.3	19.9	3.9	70.4	97.6	67.5	44.6
Dietikon	24.8	53.2	71.9	46.3	16.5	90.1	88.2	20.8	4.0	74.2	91.3	71.7	46.9
Hinwil	28.0	51.0	67.9	50.6	27.2	85.8	85.9	25.7	4.4	70.1	91.7	66.3	45.5
Horgen	26.5	55.3	78.8	51.5	21.1	91.8	80.9	22.2	3.8	71.9	93.5	68.8	34.0
Meilen	25.5	48.8	70.4	48.5	19.1	96.8	85.0	23.3	4.4	73.3	90.2	78.0	36.8
Pfäffikon	23.6	56.2	73.0	62.9	28.8	84.7	82.5	24.1	3.2	68.4	86.1	64.5	42.0
Uster	31.5	58.4	77.7	54.6	20.4	83.8	76.1	29.8	3.6	66.2	81.1	63.5	53.4
Winterthur	37.9	71.6	82.8	64.4	37.2	72.9	69.7	26.2	4.6	58.2	74.2	54.4	45.7
Zürich	62.3	83.0	96.9	77.9	18.4	74.8	55.2	19.9	8.3	57.6	58.4	58.3	29.2
Total	36.9	63.6	80.5	60.3	23.4	82.8	75.1	23.3	5.3	65.2	79.9	63.8	39.7

Cantonal Council

Results of the 2015 Zürich Cantonal Council election

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Swiss People's Party	86,036	30.02	+0.39	54	±0
	Social Democratic Party	56,375	19.67	+0.35	36	+1
	FDP.The Liberals	49,655	17.33	+4.40	31	+8
	Green Liberal Party	21,887	7.64	−2.63	14	−5
	Green Party	20,687	7.22	−3.35	13	−6
	Christian Democratic People's Party	13,981	4.88	+0.02	9	±0
	Evangelical People's Party	12,242	4.27	+0.49	8	+1
	Alternative List	8,533	2.98	+1.35	5	+2
	Federal Democratic Union	7,629	2.66	+0.29	5	±0
	Conservative Democratic Party	7,497	2.62	−0.85	5	−1
	Pirate Party	1,860	0.65	+0.09	0	–
	Young Socialists Switzerland	126	0.04	New	0	New
	Integrale Politik	60	0.02	New	0	New
Total		286,568	100.00	–	180	–
Source: wahlen.zh.ch

The SVP retained its plurality of votes and seats in the council, and the social democrats maintained second place by gaining one seat. The liberals made the largest gains by far, gaining 8 seats, in what the Tages-Anzeiger described as a "triumphant comeback" after "decades of decline". Both ecologist parties lost over a quarter of their seats, while the Alternative List gained two seats. The Liberals' gains allowed the "top-5" alliance of bourgeois parties (SVP, FDP, and CVP) to re-gain a majority, while giving them a larger influence within the alliance.

Results by constituency

Number of seats for each party by constituency

Constituency	SVP	SP	FDP	GLP	GPS	CVP	EVP	AL	EDU	BDP	Total seats		SVP	SP	FDP	GLP	GPS	CVP	EVP	AL	EDU	BDP	PP
I Zürich City 1 & 2	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	–	4		17.6	26.6	22.3	8.7	11.9	4.7	1.7	5.6	0.8	–	–
II Zürich City 3 & 9	2	4	2	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	12		20.4	29.8	12.2	7.6	10.6	5.2	2.7	8.4	0.6	0.9	1.5
III Zürich City 4 & 5	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	5		9.3	31.3	9.2	9.9	15.4	2.2	1.0	17.8	0.6	0.8	2.7
IV Zürich City 6 & 10	2	3	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	9		16.7	30.0	16.2	8.8	10.4	3.9	2.2	9.1	0.6	1.3	0.9
V Zürich City 7 & 8	1	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6		16.3	24.6	27.3	8.3	10.7	4.6	2.3	4.8	0.4	0.8	–
VI Zürich City 11 & 12	3	3	2	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	12		26.4	27.2	11.6	7.6	8.1	6.5	3.6	4.3	1.5	2.1	1.2
VII Dietikon	4	2	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	11		36.3	17.5	20.0	5.6	3.7	8.3	3.8	1.3	1.1	1.6	0.7
XIII Affoltern	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	–	6		32.3	18.1	18.1	8.2	7.0	3.8	8.7	1.0	2.2	–	–
IX Horgen	4	3	3	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	15		29.5	16.9	21.7	7.5	5.9	8.2	4.2	1.3	1.5	2.9	0.4
X Meilen	4	2	4	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	13		31.2	14.7	28.8	7.7	5.0	4.5	2.2	1.1	2.8	2.0	–
XI Hinwil	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	12		36.1	13.3	14.2	6.9	6.4	5.6	5.9	1.3	6.7	3.6	–
XII Uster	5	3	2	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	16		33.5	17.7	15.7	9.1	5.6	4.7	3.1	1.2	2.6	5.7	0.6
XIII Pfäffikon	3	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	7		36.2	16.2	14.6	7.1	5.9	2.9	8.3	0.8	4.6	3.0	0.4
XIV Winterthur City	3	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	13		21.9	24.2	12.6	8.3	9.2	5.4	7.6	3.8	2.3	2.8	1.7
XV Winterthur Land	3	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	7		40.1	12.8	14.0	8.7	5.1	3.1	6.9	0.8	3.1	4.5	0.8
XVI Andelfingen	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4		39.3	14.5	17.1	5.2	8.8	1.8	3.0	0.9	3.6	5.8	–
XVII Bülach	6	2	3	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	17		37.5	16.8	16.6	6.3	5.0	4.0	4.6	0.9	4.2	3.5	0.5
XVIII Dielsdorf	5	1	2	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	11		45.0	14.4	13.7	6.5	5.6	3.4	2.6	0.5	5.9	1.7	0.8
Total	54	36	31	14	13	9	8	5	5	5	180		30.0	19.7	17.3	7.6	7.2	4.9	4.3	3.0	2.7	2.6	0.7