(MENAFN- Swissinfo)
日本語
(ja)
国民を代表しないスイス議会
Deutsch
(de)
Schweizer Parlament: Wer hat Anrecht auf Repräsentation? (original)
Italiano
(it)
Parlamento svizzero: chi ha diritto alla rappresentanza?
Français
(fr)
Au Parlement suisse, qui a droit à une représentation?
Pусский
(ru)
Новый парламент Швейцарии стал старше и маскулинней!
The average Swiss parliament member is male, well-educated and 50 years old. This year's elections have accentuated an already existing trend.
“The 2023 elections have resulted in less diversity,” says Daniel Höhmann, a political scientist at the University of Basel.“This is a step backwards in terms of the representation of the different segments of the Swiss population.”
Some 38.5% of the members of the House of Representatives are women, although just over half the population of Switzerland is female; 1.5% of the members – three people – have disabilities, although over 10% of the population has some form of disability. These are two striking examples of the differences between the Swiss population and their elected representatives.
Should a parliament reflect the diversity of the population? Absolutely, says Höhmann, and for several reasons.
From a symbolic point of view, he explains, diversity shows that the political sphere is open to a wide range of interests within the population.“This is a cornerstone of democracy.” Everyone should be able to participate in political life and represent their interests.
An important aspect of this is the role model function: seeing parliamentarians from similar life situations spurs others to get involved themselves.
People who feel represented also have greater trust in politics.“If members of parliament have similar experiences, problems and life situations to you, then you are more confident that they will also stand up for your preferences and problems.”
Höhmann says research shows that members of previously marginalised groups are increasingly involved in promoting the interests of these groups. Issues are put on the agenda that might otherwise have been forgotten.
Fewer female parliamentarians
There are now 77 women in the 200-member House of Representatives. Compared to the 2019 election, the proportion of women has thus fallen from 42% to 38.5%. This puts Switzerland behind Moldova but ahead of France.
External Content
No European national parliament has a proportion of 50% women. Iceland tops the list in Europe with 47.6%, while Rwanda leads worldwide with 61.3% women in the first chamber of parliament.
In the 2019 elections, more women were elected in Switzerland than ever before. The 2023 elections now represent a downturn. The cross-party movement“Helvetia Calls!”, which calls on women to run for office, is nonetheless optimistic. History shows that progress is not always linear.“Of course we hoped for more, but we're not surprised by the result,” says Flavia Kleiner, co-initiator of the campaign. This is because the right-wing Swiss People's Party, where women are the least represented, did best in the elections, as expected, and the Greens and Liberal Greens – which both have a high proportion of women – suffered a loss.
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