Fribourg elections will reshape cantonal government

At least three of the seven seats in Fribourg’s cantonal government will change hands after November’s elections, SRF reports, with three incumbents stepping down and four seeking re-election.

Voters will elect all seven members of the State Council, the cantonal government, as well as 110 members of the Grand Council, the parliament. They will also choose one district prefect for each of the canton’s seven districts: Sarine, Sense, See, Gruyère, Broye, Glane and Veveyse. The next legislative term will run for five years, until the end of 2031.

The current government has five representatives from centre-right parties: two from the FDP, two from the Centre and one from the SVP. The Greens and the Social Democratic Party each hold one seat. Centre-right parties also have roughly two-thirds of the seats in the Grand Council.

Incumbents Didier Castella and Romain Collaud of the FDP, Philippe Demierre of the SVP and Sylvie Bonvin-Sansonnens of the Greens are standing again. Jean-Pierre Siggen and Olivier Curty of the Centre, and Jean-François Steiert of the Social Democrats, have announced they will leave office.

The Centre is fielding National Council member Marie-France Roth Pasquier and Grand Council member Markus Julmy for its two vacant seats. The Social Democrats have nominated three women: Sarine district prefect Lise-Marie Graden, Grand Council member Kirthana Wickramasingam and Schmitten municipal councillor Stephanie Tschopp.

Other candidates include Vincent Pfister of the centre-left ML party, formerly the CSP; GLP candidate Leonardo Gomez Mariaca; Sandy Maillard and Alaya Abdulle of the newly formed left-alternative movement Das/Was Freiburg; and Claudio Rugo of the Artists’ Club Party.