Markus Ritter to the Federal Council election slip, how did Blocher, Aeschi & Co do?

He was a favorite for the successor of Viola Amherd and failed. Now Markus Ritter is expressing himself. How did he digest the defeat? And how did favorites react to such a slump earlier?

It is not a detailed interview, there are excerpts from a conversation. After a long silence, the farmers’ president and middle national council Markus Ritter publicly commented on his defeat against Martin Pfister in the Federal Council election-in which he started as a high favorite. His statements are disarmed.

« Everything went on as normal, » says the St. Galler in the « NZZ on Sunday ». Already on the day after the Federal Council election, he headed a meeting of the farmers’ association, and he continued to participate in the meetings of the National Council on the same day. Ritter’s reason for his failure is remarkable: « You don’t like very strong people in the Federal Council. » To his way of processing the defeat, he explains: « If you take a break, you fall into a hole. »

You could also describe this as a displacement strategy.

Markus Ritter, the powerful peasant president, is not the first candidate for the Federal Council to get into the race as a favorite. The list is long – and the way the people in question reacted to the public slump is just as diverse.

From Christoph Blocher to Christiane Brunner to Eva Herzog

Several other women can be found among the trimmed favorites. There is the first official Federal Council candidate ever Lilian Uchenhagen From the sp. Overnight Otto Stich built up as a wild opposite candidate – and brought through in the election. He was amazed at how well Uchenhagen managed the defeat in 1973, said former SP President Helmut Hubacher at her death in 2016.

It wasn’t better for the recently deceased Christiane Brunner 1993. The anger in particular of many women about their defeat Francis Matthey the Geneva steered into powerful rallies: Matthey had to do without Ruth Dreifuss was chosen, the women’s movement experienced an upswing. Today one speaks of the « Brunner effect ».