FDP co-leader calls on Aeschi to decide on SVP bid

FDP co-president Susanne Vincenz-Stauffacher says Thomas Aeschi should quickly decide whether he is available for the Swiss People’s Party’s Federal Council ticket, SRF reported. Aeschi, the party’s parliamentary group leader, has been nominated by the SVP’s Zug branch but has yet to confirm his candidacy.

Vincenz-Stauffacher called his hesitation unusual, particularly if other candidates are expected to meet a deadline. “In terms of decisiveness, it is not exactly a recommendation,” she said on SRF’s Samstagsrundschau. She also said she understood his caution because he had previously made an unsuccessful bid for the Federal Council.

She said an altercation involving Aeschi, Valais National Council member Michael Graber and security staff at the Bundeshaus would not count in favour of either candidate. She also criticised Graber’s suggestion that Switzerland might soon have to deploy the military if it faced violent demonstrations like those in Paris and Milan.

Vincenz-Stauffacher reiterated that the SVP ticket should include someone from French-speaking Switzerland or Ticino. She said she was disappointed that Geneva National Council member Céline Amaudruz was the only woman running, but added that it would be too forceful for the FDP to demand that she be included on the ticket. Other candidates from those regions include Ticino Council of States member Marco Chiesa and French-speaking Bernese government member Pierre Alain Schnegg.

She expects the SVP to put forward at least two candidates for election by the Federal Assembly, saying a three-person ticket would make the choice more interesting.