Single transferable vote for the Swiss Council of States

Rules of the Game – discussing democratic institutions

In this episode I propose to change the Swiss constitution to implement a single transferable vote electoral system to elect the members of the Council of States (called Ständerat in German). The Council of States is the Senate of Switzerland, the upper of two co-equal chambers, representing the 26 Cantons (states) in the federal government structure. The electoral reform would mean to use ranked choice ballots in two-seat electoral districts.

Currently the Cantons are responsible for conducting the State Council elections. Most cantons use a two-round majority-plurality electoral system. In the first round candidates with an absolute majority are elected, while in the second round a plurality of votes is required. While the current system seems to enjoy wide support and is rarely questioned, it leaves voters no option to state their true ranked preferences of candidates, it leads to strategic voting, and favors the larger, predominant parties.

The introduction of a single transferable vote law with a ranked ballot for the Swiss Council of States in all cantons would make elections fairer across all cantons, more representative and also cheaper. Since all the preferences of voters would be recorded on the ballots in just one round, the election administration becomes also simpler since the second round is obsolete.

This episode wants to achieve two goals. First, to propose and present single transferable voting as an improvement of Swiss State Council elections. And Second, proposing a strategy via a popular initiative how it could be achieved.

I am curious about your thoughts on this proposal. Please do get in touch and provide feedback at [e-mail].

Find the show notes with links to all material discussed here: https://rulesofthegame.blog/single-transferable-vote-for-the-swiss-council-of-states/