It can't have escaped your notice that it's local election time again as campaign posters from all the political parties spring up around the towns and villages of Vaud. The candidates that are putting themselves forward for the Nyon elections usually can be found Place St-Martin (in the centre of Nyon) every Saturday morning. They are there to answer your questions on local issues, so go and chat to them! The date for the first round of elections is March 13th. Photo above : campaigning in the rain back in 2007 photo below: campaigning in 2011 Did you know that if you are a foreign citizen who has been regularly domiciled in Switzerland for at least 10 years, of which at least 3 have been in the canton of Vaud, then you can vote! If so, you should have received your voting papers in the post by now and if you have, you will see there are a lot of candidates on lots of lists and it can all seem a bit confusing! Thankfully, help is at hand as Bob Jenefsky, a member of the conseil communal has very kindly written a clear outline about these elections and the voting procedures for Living in Nyon readers. Note: This site will be inviting all the political parties concerned to send in their comments and their stand on local issues, however this is provided purely as public service information for the expat community and does not imply endorsement of their views by Living in Nyon. Now it's over to Bob for an explanation of the voting system and the elections. Local elections – Voting the Nyon way On March 13, voters in the canton of Vaud will elect their local authorities – the deliberative body (conseil communal or, for smaller communities, conseil général) and the executive (conseil municipal) for the 5-year legislature, which begins on July 1, 2011. In Nyon, the conseil communal (100 councilors) is elected by the proportional-representation system, whereas the conseil municipal, usually referred to as the “Municipalité” (7 members, including the mayor) is elected by majority vote. Swiss citizens whose legal domicile is in Nyon are eligible to vote in the city election, as are foreign citizens who have been regularly domiciled in Switzerland for at least 10 years, of which at least 3 in the canton of Vaud. Most voters received their package of election materials this week, together with detailed explanations about the mechanics of voting. A first glance will suffice to convince you that it’s a bit complicated, so here are some explanations to help you out. Conseil communal The conseil communal is somewhat akin to a cityparliament (UK = town council), although it is not a true legislature in the sense that it does not make laws. Candidates (Swiss citizens or eligible foreign nationals, see above) must be on an official party ballot. There are 7 parties: from the “left” to the “right” of the political spectrum, the Parti POP-Gauche en movement-La Gauche; the Parti Verts et Ouverts; the Parti Socialiste Nyonnais; the Parti Indépendant Nyonnais (PIN); the Parti Vert’Libéral; the Parti PLR.Les Libéraux-Radicaux and the Parti Union Démocratique du Centre. In addition to the official party ballots, you will also find a blank ballot, which can be filled out by hand, in the voter’s package. Perhaps you are a member or supporter of a party, or know one or more candidates and would like to vote for them. It’s important to understand that you must first vote for the party and then for the candidates, in order to increase their chances to be elected! Because there are 100 seats to be filled in the conseil communal, each voter has 100 “suffrages” (as you can see from the blank ballot, which has space for the names of 100 candidates). The official party ballots have between 10 and 50 names printed on them. You have a number of options when voting: 1. You can simply choose a party ballot and place it, with no changes, in your voting envelope, together with your ballot for the Municipalité (see below). This is referred to as a “liste compacte”. In that case, the party will receive 100 “suffrages”. When the ballots are counted on March 13, each party will receive the number of seats in the conseil communal corresponding to the percentage it received of the total number of “suffrages” cast by all voters. The actual seats won by the party will then be allocated to the candidates on its list in descending order of the number of “suffrages” each candidate has received as an individual. You can increase the election chances of the candidates you like by writing their names in a second (but not a third!) time by hand on the printed ballot (but not on the back!). This is referred to as “cumul”.
If you have a preference for a particular party, but like some candidates from other parties, you can vote what is referred to as a “liste panachée”: take the official party ballot, and add each of the names of the candidates from the other parties that you want to vote for, once or (at most) twice. Each vote for a candidate from another party will be deducted from the maximum 100 “suffrages” going to the party whose list you’re using. You may also cross off the names of candidates on the printed list if you wish (this only reduces those candidates’ personal chance of being elected, but doesn’t deduct “suffrages” from the party).
1.Finally, you can take a
and fill it in by hand with up to 100 names (or 50 names, each entered twice, or some combination of names entered once and entered twice). If the total number of names is less than 100, some of your “suffrages” will be lost,
you write the number and name of an official party list in the upper right-hand corner of the ballot, in which case any remaining “suffrages” (these are referred to as “suffrages complémentaires”) will go to that party.
The 7 members of the conseil municipal (they’re referred to individually as Municipal in the masculine, Municipale in the feminine and as Municipaux in the plural form) are elected in a two-round process: March 13 (first round) In the first round, candidates for the Municipalité must receive the
(50% of votes cast plus one vote) to be elected. Those not elected in the first round must face a runoff election on April 3. Each voter can cast a single ballot containing up to 7 names, which may be those of official candidates or of any other eligible person (i.e. write-ins). April 3 (second round) To fill any remaining seats in the Municipalité, a runoff election will be held on April 3. Candidates are elected by
, i.e. those candidates receiving the most votes cast will fill any remaining seats.
The mayor is
among the Municipaux, so he must first be elected as a member of the Municipalité. Although the current incumbent, Daniel Rossellat, is running unopposed for re-election, he must first overcome the technical hurdle of being elected to the Municipalité, as only members of that body are eligible to run for mayor. The election for mayor also takes place in 2 rounds: the first, on May 15 (absolute majority required), and the second (if necessary) on June 5 (relative majority).
Got it? Well, if not, don’t worry: you’re in good company! Many native Swiss don’t understand the system, either. If you have any questions after reading all the official information, call me on 079 2025014 or e-mail me at jenefsky@iprolink.ch and I’ll try to help.
Bob Jenefsky - Conseiller communal - President, Parti Indépendant Nyonnais
Note: If you received your free copy of La Côte yesterday you should have also got the special election supplement which lists all the candidates in the district of Nyon.