2023 Zürich cantonal elections

The 2023 Zürich cantonal elections were held on 12 February 2023^[1][2] to elect the seven members of the cantonal Executive Council and the 180 members of the Cantonal Council.

2023 Zürich cantonal elections

← 2019 12 February 2023 2027 →
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 Third party   Party Swiss People's Independent Greens Elected Natalie Rickli 181,842, 70.02% Mario Fehr 192,711, 74.20% Martin Neukom 161,864, 62.33%   Ernst Stocker 177,639, 68.40%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Party Social Democrats The Centre FDP.The Liberals Elected Jacqueline Fehr 148,610, 57.22% Sylvia Steiner 146,242, 56.31% Carmen W. Späh 145,444, 56.00%
Cantonal Council
Party Vote % Seats +/– Swiss People's 24.92 46 +1 Social Democrats 19.32 36 +1 FDP.The Liberals 15.86 29 0 Green Liberals 12.75 24 +1 Greens 10.43 19 −3 The Centre 6.03 11 +3 Evangelical People's 3.86 7 −1 Alternative List 2.62 5 −1 Federal Democrats 1.89 3 −1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

All seven incumbents in the Executive Council were re-elected, with the bourgeois alliance holding a majority of four; in the Cantonal Council the "Climate alliance" retained a narrow majority of 91.

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.^[3][4]

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.^[3][4]

Number of seats by constituency^[1][2]

Constituency		Seats	Change
I	Zürich city districts 1 & 2	5	=
II	Zürich city districts 3 & 9	12	=
III	Zürich city districts 4 & 5	5	=
IV	Zürich city districts 6 & 10	8	−1
V	Zürich city districts 7 & 8	6	=
VI	Zürich city districts 11 & 12	12	=
VII	Dietikon	11	=
VIII	Affoltern	7	+1
IX	Horgen	15	=
X	Meilen	12	=
XI	Hinwil	11	=
XII	Uster	16	=
XIII	Pfäffikon	7	=
XIV	Winterthur city	13	=
XV	Winterthur land	7	=
XVI	Andelfingen	4	=
XVII	Bülach	18	=
XVIII	Dielsdorf	11	=

Date

Cantonal elections in Zürich are typically held in April or late March, but the presence of both a federal referendum date on 12 March and holidays meant the cantonal elections had to be pusher earlier, to mid-February.^[5] Had a second round been needed, it would have been held on 16 April.^[5]

Candidates

Executive Council

All seven incumbents ran for re-election: Mario Fehr (ind.), Jacqueline Fehr (SP), Ernst Stocker (SVP), Sylvia Steiner (CVP), Carmen Walker Späh (FDP), Martin Neukom (Grüne), and Natalie Rickli (SVP). Mario Fehr was elected in 2011 then re-elected in 2015 and 2019 as a social democrat, but left the party in 2021 and contested this election as an independent.^[5]

The FDP fielded Peter Grünenfelder as their second candidate in hope of retaking their seat lost in 2015; the SP fielded Priska Seiler Graf as their second candidate to compensate for Mario Fehr's defection. Benno Scherrer runs for the Green-Liberals, hoping to take a seat as the fourth-largest party in the cantonal council.

Minor candidates were Anne-Claude Hensch for the Alternative List, Daniel Sommer for the EVP; Patrick Jetzer for Aufrecht and Josua Dietrich for the Free List both ran as opponents to Covid restrictions. Former SVP member Hans-Peter Amrein also ran as an independent, as did Bernhard Schmidt and Peter Vetsch.^[5]

Candidacies could be submitted until 28 November 2022, 17 candidates ran in total.

Cantonal Council

The table below lists contesting parties represented in the Cantonal Council before the election.^[5]

Name			Ideology	2019 result		Incumbent seats
				Votes (%)	Seats
	SVP	Swiss People's Party Schweizerische Volkspartei	National conservatism Right-wing populism	24.5%	45 / 180	44 / 180
	SP	Social Democratic Party Sozialdemokratische Partei	Social democracy Democratic socialism	19.3%	35 / 180	34 / 180
	FDP	FDP.The Liberals FDP.Die Liberalen	Classical liberalism Conservative liberalism	15.7%	29 / 180	29 / 180
	GLP	Green Liberal Party Grünliberale Partei	Green liberalism Social liberalism	12.9%	23 / 180	24 / 180
	GPS	Green Party Grüne Partei	Green politics Progressivism	11.9%	22 / 180	22 / 180
	DM	The Centre Die Mitte[a]	Christian democracy Social conservatism	5.8%	8 / 180	9 / 180
	EVP	Evangelical People's Party Evangelische Volkspartei	Christian democracy Social conservatism	4.2%	8 / 180	8 / 180
	AL	Alternative List Alternative Liste	Socialism	3.2%	6 / 180	6 / 180
	EDU	Federal Democratic Union Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union	National conservatism	2.3%	4 / 180	3 / 180
	Ind.	Independents	–	–	0 / 180	1 / 180

1. Merger of the Christian Democratic People's Party and of the Conservative Democratic Party.

Lists could be submitted until 5 December 2022. 13 parties contested this election, as many as in 2019, with 1687 candidates in total in the canton.

The SVP, SP, FDP, GLP, Greens, and Mitte all ran full slates of 180 candidates, while the EVP (177 candidates), AL (139), EDU (132), and Aufrecht/Free List (132) also ran in all 18 constituencies. The Party of Labour (23 candidates) only contests in the constituencies of the city of Zürich, and the lists Yes to stop growth and SansPapierPolitiques both consist of a single candidate.

Campaign

Approximate campaign budget for each candidate^[6][7]

Candidate		Budget (CHF)
	Hans-Peter Amrein (Ind.)	300,000
	Peter Grünenfelder (FDP)	300,000
	Benno Scherrer (GLP)	200,000
	Jacqueline Fehr (SP)	160,000
	Carmen Walker Späh (FDP)	150,000
	Ernst Stocker (SVP)	145,000
	Martin Neukom (Greens)	140,000
	Silvia Steiner (Mitte)	135,000
	Priska Seiler Graf (SP)	125,000
	Mario Fehr (Ind.)	120,000
	Natalie Rickli (SVP)	100,000
	Anne-Claude Hensch (AL)	100,000
	Patrick Jetzer (Aufrecht)	60,000
	Peter Vetsch (Ind.)	10,500

The 2019 cantonal elections had been a “green wave” as both the GLP and Greens gained over five percentage points in the Cantonal Council. The parties of the loose "Climate Alliance" (SP, GLP, Greens, EVP, AL) had won an overall majority for the first time, with 94 seats (out of 180).^[5] The BDP, which failed to pass the threshold in 2019, merged with the CVP to form Die Mitte (The Centre).

As in previous elections, the bourgeois parties (SVP, FDP, Mitte) ran running as an alliance for the executive council.^[8] The SP, Greens, and AL also recommend each-other's candidates under the name “Progressive Alliance”.^[9] Both were more cohesive alliances than in previous elections;^[10] the GLP and other parties were in no alliance for the Executive Council.

Education policy was an important issue in the campaign; although surveys saw climate and the environment as the most important issue, followed by immigration and asylum, pensions and social security, and health care. An explanation is electoral strategy, since the lowest-polling incumbent, Sylvia Steiner, was leading the education department. New candidates Priska Seiler Graf, Peter Grünenfelder, and Benno Scherrer have criticized her education policy.^[10][11][12]

Opinion polls

Executive Council

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	M. Fehr Ind.	Rickli SVP	Stocker SVP	Neukom GPS	J. Fehr SP	Späh FDP	Steiner DM	P. S. Graf SP	Grünen­felder FDP	Scherrer glp	Hensch AL	Sommer EVP	Amrein Ind.	Jetzer Aufrecht
Sotomo/Tages-Anzeiger	24 Nov – 8 Dec 2021	2'500	58	57	53	44	40	40	36	36	28	25	14	10	9	–
GfS Bern/NZZ	24 Nov – 8 Dec 2021	2'500	59	54	54	49	42	41	37	30	29	22	14	9	–	4

Cantonal Council

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	SVP	SP	FDP	glp	GPS	DM	EVP	AL	EDU	Others	Lead
Sotomo/Tages-Anzeiger	24 Nov – 8 Dec 2021	2'500	24.0	17.8	16.7	14.4	10.4	6.8	4.2	3.2	–	2.5	6.2
GfS Bern/NZZ	24 Nov – 8 Dec 2021	2'500	24.0	18.1	16.1	14.3	11.5	6.3	4.1	3.5	1.9	0.2	5.9
2019 election	24 Mar 2019	–	24.5	19.3	15.7	12.9	11.9	5.8[a]	4.2	3.2	2.3	1.7	5.2

1. Includes results from the CVP and BDP in 2019, before their merger.

Results

Executive Council

Note: percentages here are calculated based on the number 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 2023 Zürich Executive Council election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Mario Fehr[i]	Ind.	192,711	74.20
	Natalie Rickli[i]	SVP	181,842	70.02
	Ernst Stocker[i]	SVP	177,639	68.40
	Martin Neukom[i]	Grüne	161,864	62.33
	Jacqueline Fehr[i]	SP	148,610	57.22
	Sylvia Steiner[i]	DM	146,242	56.31
	Carmen Walker Späh[i]	FDP	145,444	56.00
	Priska Seiler Graf	SP	120,586	46.43
	Peter Grünenfelder	FDP	108,395	41.74
	Benno Scherrer	GLP	93,603	36.04
	Anne-Claude Hensch	AL	80,189	30.88
	Hans-Peter Amrein	Ind.	62,025	23.88
	Daniel Sommer	EVP	42,961	16.54
	Josua Dietrich	Free List	28,622	11.02
	Peter Vetsch	Ind.	28,040	10.80
	Florian Wegmann	Ind.	23,521	9.06
	Bernhard Schmidt	Ind.	21,861	8.42
	Patrick Jetzer	Aufrecht	17,130	6.60
Scattered votes			46,672	17.97
Total			1,817,957	78.77
Blank votes			482,438	20.90
Invalid votes			7,589	0.33
Total votes			2,307,984	7×
Blank ballots			2,285	0.69
Invalid ballots			525	0.16
Total ballots			332,522	–
Registered voters/Turnout			929,203	35.79
Source: zh.ch,[13] Election protocol[14]

1. Incumbent

All seven incumbents were re-elected without the need for a second round.^[15] Mario Fehr topped the polls with 74%, nine points below his 2019 results but nonetheless an increase of twenty thousand votes. He was followed by the two SVP candidates Natalie Rickli and Ernst Stocker, both seeing large increases in votes compared to 2019. Green councillor Martin Neukom finished 4th after being the surprise of 2019, ahead of SP councillor Jacqueline Fehr, while Sylvia Steiner and Carmen Walker Späh both defended their seats with over 56%, a margin of twenty-five thousand votes over Priska Seiler Graf who failed to swing the majority in the executive to the left.^[16]

Cantonal Council

Results of the 2023 Zürich Cantonal Council election

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Swiss People's Party	79,287	24.92	+0.45	46	+1
	Social Democratic Party	61,480	19.32	+0.01	36	+1
	FDP.The Liberals	50,456	15.86	+0.19	29	–
	Green Liberal Party	40,562	12.75	−0.16	24	+1
	Green Party	33,200	10.43	−1.48	19	−3
	The Centre	19,178	6.03	+0.21	11	+3
	Evangelical People's Party	12,277	3.86	−0.38	7	−1
	Alternative List	8,342	2.62	−0.53	5	−1
	Aufrecht / Free List	6,838	2.15	New	0	New
	Federal Democratic Union	6,028	1.89	−0.38	3	−1
	Labour Party	437	0.14	−0.04	0	±0
	Yes to stop growth	71	0.02	New	0	New
	SansPapierPolitiques	60	0.02	New	0	New
Total		318,216	100.00	–	180	–
Valid votes		320,141	98.69
Invalid votes		3,968	1.22
Blank votes		296	0.09
Total votes		324,405	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		929,203	34.91
Source: app.statistik.zh.ch,[17] election protocol[18][19]

This election saw little movement for most parties. The most significant changes were the Green Party losing three seats, while The Centre (merger of the CVP and BDP) re-gained three, mainly owing to the inclusion of former BDP votes that failed to pass the threshold in 2019. The SVP retained the first place and gained one seat, as did the Social-Democrats and the Green-Liberals; the EVP, AL, and EDU all lost one seat each, and the FDP's number of seats remained consistent. No new party passed the threshold, Aufrecht and the Free List came closest but did not win any seats.

The "Climate Alliance" (SP, GLP, Greens, EVP, AL) lost three seats overall but maintained a narrow majority of a single seat, while the bourgeois parties (SVP, FDP, CVP) gained four seats but failed to re-gain the majority. This puts once again the Green-Liberals as kingmakers for various legislative majorities in the elected Cantonal Council, left-leaning for social and climate issues but right-leaning for economic issues.^[16]

References

1. "Kantonsratswahl 2023 Resultate und Infos - Wahlen & Abstimmungen | Kanton Zürich". app.statistik.zh.ch. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
2. "Regierungsratsbeschluss Nr. 1281/2022". Kanton Zürich (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-14.
3. "Kantons- und Regierungsratswahlen". Kanton Zürich (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-09.
4. "Zürcher Wahlen 2023: So füllst du den Wahlzettel richtig aus". ZüriToday (in Swiss High German). 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
5. Hotz, Stefan; Geisseler, Zeno; Fritzsche, Daniel (2023-01-20). "Zürcher Wahlen 2023: Das Rennen um die sieben Sitze im Regierungsrat ist offen, die Mehrheiten im Kantonsrat bleiben knapp" [Zurich elections 2023: The race for the seven seats on the government council is open, majorities in the cantonal council remain narrow]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-07.
6. "Bis zu 300'000 Franken: So finanzieren die Zürcher Regierungsratskandidaten den Wahlkampf". Watson (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-08.
7. "So viel investieren Zürcher Regierungsratskandidierende in den Wahlkampf". ZüriToday (in Swiss High German). 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
8. "Wie soll Zürich regiert werden?". www.zhk.ch. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
9. Geisseler, Zeno (2022-11-12). "Das links-grüne Bündnis setzt bei den Regierungsratswahlen auf das urbane Zürich – nicht jedoch auf die GLP" [The left-green alliance is betting on urban Zurich in the Executive Council elections - but not on the GLP]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
10. Donzé, René; Städeli, Markus; Meier, Jürg (2023-01-21). "Grünenfelder speltet Bürgerliche" [Grünenfelder splits the bourgeois]. NZZ magazin (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-07.
11. Huber, Marius (2023-01-25). "Zürcherinnen und Zürcher leiden laut Umfrage unter Dichtestress – aber der Wahlkampf lässt dieses Thema aus" [Zürichers suffer from density stress according to a survey - but the electoral campaign omits this issue]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-07.
12. "Wahlen im Kanton Zürich - Zürcher Wahlen: Kippt die Klima-Allianz?". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
13. "Regierungsratswahl 2023 | Resultate und Infos | Wahlen & Abstimmungen". app.statistik.zh.ch (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-13.
14. "Protokoll der Wahlergebnisse | Erneuerungswahl von 7 Mitgliedern des Regierungsrates für die Amtsdauer 2023–2027" (PDF). 2023-02-12.
15. "Wahlen im Kanton Zürich 2023: Alle Resultate im Überblick". ZüriToday (in Swiss High German). 2023-02-12. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
16. "Le Parlement zurichois reste à majorité de centre-gauche, tout le gouvernement est réélu". rts.ch (in French). 2023-02-12. Retrieved 2023-02-19.
17. "Kantonsratswahl 2023 | Resultate und Infos | Wahlen & Abstimmungen". app.statistik.zh.ch (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-13.
18. "Kantonsratswahl 2023 | Stimmenquorum der Listengruppen | Oberzuteilung der Sitze an die Listengruppen | Unterzuteilung der Sitze an die Listen" (PDF). 2023-02-12.
19. "Kantonsratswahl 2023 | Gesamtergebnis der Sitzeverteilung" (PDF). 2023-02-12.