The photo below is of one of the many posters that were around the town reminding citizens to vote in the local Nyon elections. This poster says “Vote for the future of Nyon”.
The votes are now in and there are some changes in the town/city government as a result.
Read about the details and the major shift that took place. Did you know, there is now a “Pirate” party in Nyon?!
Thank you to Robert Jenefsky for this article. Bob is the President of the Parti Indépendant Nyonnais.
Links to members of all other political parties are here on the town’s own website.
On March 7th, municipal elections were held throughout the Canton of Vaud, followed by a run off election on March 28 for any remaining seats. Nyon’s election brought about a change in the majority of the city government (“Municipality” made up of 7 municipal councillors – one of whom is the mayor) as well as a 50-50 left-right split in the city council (parliament). All 100 members of the city council were elected by the proportional system on March 7th.
More complicated was the election to the Municipality: on March 7: only those five candidates achieving the absolute majority of votes cast were elected. The remaining two seats were then adjudicated by relative majority in a run-off election held on March 28th.
Nyon/City Town Council
In the current (2016-2021) legislature ending June 30, the “centre-right” parties (PIN, VL, PLR and UDC) hold a clear majority (59 seats vs. 41 for the PS-Verts alliance).
Greens picked up 11 seats
On March 7, the Greens picked up 11 additional seats at the expense of the other parties (with the exception of the Green Liberal party), for a total of 27, making them the biggest fraction in the coming legislature. As a result, the city council will be split 50-50 between “left” and “centre-right” starting July 1.
Municipality
Back in 2016, an alliance of the 4 “centre-right” parties flipped the majority in the Municipality by electing four of their five candidates (current incumbents Claude Uldry (PIN), Roxane Faraut Linares and Maurice Gay (PLR) and Vincent Hacker (VL)). T
The other three seats went to mayor Daniel Rossellat (independent but allied with the Greens and the Socialists) and the socialists, Fabienne Freymond Cantone and Stéphanie Schmutz.
Going into the March 7 election this year, each alliance presented a single list for the Municipality. On the left were incumbents Daniel Rossellat and Stéphanie Schmutz, plus additionally for the Socialists Alexandre Démétriadès, (replacing the retiring Fabienne Freymond) and the two Green party candidates Elise Buckle, a relative newcomer to Nyon politics, and Pierre Wahlen. The centre-right ran the same lineup as in 2016: all four incumbents plus Sacha Soldini (UDC).
In addition to the candidates of the “traditional” parties (all of whom are represented in the city council), several new groups and individuals also competed for seats in the Municipality:
The Pirate Party, the Centre Party (created from the recent merger of the Christian-Democratic Party (PDC) and the Conservative Democratic Party (PBD)), plus two stand-alone candidates, one of whom announced her candidacy at the last minute. Of these, only the Pirate Party and the Centre Party also presented a list of candidates for the city council, and neither overcame the 5% quorum hurdle.
Although the Pirate Party (whose platform focuses on data protection and transparency issues), has already participated in both national and local elections in Switzerland, this was its debut in Nyon.
I
NSERT AN IMAGE
Because of the exceptionally large number of candidates, some observers expected that none of the candidates would achieve the absolute majority on March 7, which would have led to a general runoff on March 28, with the relative (rather than absolute) majority deciding.
Instead, all 5 candidates on the Green-Socialist-Rossellat ticket were elected on March 7, leaving a mere 2 seats for the other candidates to be adjudicated on March 28.
An intense time!
With a total of 9 candidates competing for the two remaining seats, the three weeks separating the first round and the runoff were, to put it mildly, quite intense for all concerned, in particular given the (perhaps inevitable) collapse of the 4-party “centre-right” alliance.
This photo shows Vincent Hacker and Claude Uldry submitting the paperwork for the runoff election to the Municipality (the gentleman on the left is Mr. Garrido, the city election clerk).
Going into the runoff, the five “centre right” candidates ran on a total of three separate lists: incumbents Roxane Faraut Linares and Maurice Gay on the PLR list; Sacha Soldini on the UDC list; and incumbents Vincent Hacker (VL) and Claude Uldry (PIN) on the “Pour Nyon – Pour Vous” list. In addition, each of the other four candidates ran on an individual list, leaving voters with an embarrassment of riches to choose from. Participation on March 28 was 30.43%, about 10 percentage points lower than on March 7.
The final result – Five interesting years to come
The result: a clear majority to re-elect incumbents Roxane Faraut Linares (PLR) and Claude Uldry (PIN), the leading runners-up from March 7. Although the “left” now has a clear majority in the Municipality, it will need a majority of the city council – now evenly split – to approve its spending proposals (“préavis”). This should make for an “interesting” five years!
Pundits (including myself, as president of the PIN) will spend the next weeks and months interpreting the results of the election!
City/Town Council
| Parties in Nyon Council | 2016 – 2021 Legislature | 2021- 2026 Legislature |
| Socialist Party (PS) | 25 | 23 (-2) |
| Green Party (Les Vert.e.s) | 16 | 27 (+11) |
| Nyon Independent Party (PIN) | 15 | 13 (-2) |
| Green Liberal Party (PVL) | 5 | 5 (-) |
| Liberal-Radical Party (PLR) | 26 | 23 (-3) |
| Swiss People’s Party (UDC) | 13 | 9 (-4) |
| Total City Council | 100 | 100 |
Municipality
| Municipal Councillors | 2016 – 2021 Legislature | 2021 – 2026 Legislature |
| Socialist Party | Fabienne Freymond Cantone | Alexandre Démétriadès |
| Socialist Party | Stéphanie Schmutz | Stéphanie Schmutz |
| Green Party | n/a | Elise Buckle |
| Green Party | n/a | Pierre Wahlen |
| Nyon Independent Party | Claude Uldry | Claude Uldry |
| Green Liberal Party | Vincent Hacker | n/a |
| Liberal-Radical Party | Roxane Faraut Linares | Roxane Faraut Linares |
| Liberal-Radical Party | Maurice Gay | n/a |
| No party affiliation | Daniel Rossellat (mayor) | Daniel Rossellat (mayor)* |
*Mayoral candidates will be announced on April 6. Daniel Rossellat is expected to run unopposed.
