Donzallaz withdraws as van de Graaf faces close re-election vote

Yves Donzallaz has withdrawn from the race to remain a Swiss federal judge, while a parliamentary commission has narrowly recommended re-electing his former partner, Beatrice van de Graaf, SRF reported in an analysis by Nathalie Christen.

Donzallaz had recently fought to remain in office before the Federal Supreme Court and said he would take his case to the European Court of Human Rights. He is non-partisan and has often clashed with his former party, the Swiss People’s Party. SRF said he may have concluded that he was unlikely to be re-elected.

The commission had postponed its recommendation and the judicial election while it awaited the Federal Supreme Court’s assessment of the former relationship between the two judges. The court ruled that the relationship violated the Federal Supreme Court Act. But the commission had to decide whether the breach met the high threshold for denying re-election: a serious, intentional or grossly negligent breach of official duties.

A narrow majority found that it did not. The commission said the boundary between a permissible and an impermissible relationship between federal judges was not entirely clear, and that responsibility was less serious if the boundary was recognised only after it had been crossed. A substantial minority opposed van de Graaf’s re-election.

The Federal Assembly will decide on her re-election in December and has previously rejected commission recommendations. Former Federal Prosecutor Erwin Beyeler, for example, was recommended for re-election but did not secure it.