Switzerland: right-wing minister ousted

Blocher Loses Re-Election Bid, SVP to Quit Government (Update3)
By Marc Wolfensberger

Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Swiss lawmakers ousted billionaire Justice Minister Christoph Blocher from the Cabinet, a move that may end almost 50 years of four-party consensus in government.

Instead of Blocher, 67, parliament chose his Swiss People's Party colleague Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf for the post, even though she didn't put herself forward as a candidate. The parliament met to choose a new seven-member Cabinet after national elections in October.

The People's Party, which won the most votes in the election, is threatening to go into opposition unless Blocher is restored to the Cabinet. That would bring an end to the formula under which the country's four largest parties have shared out Cabinet seats among themselves since 1959, ensuring political and economic stability.

``Either we are in the government with Blocher or we're going into opposition,'' People's Party President Ueli Maurer told reporters after today's vote. ``It's a win-win situation.''

The Social Democrats, the Green Party and the Christian Democrats united to elect Widmer-Schlumpf as an alternative candidate from the People's Party, called the SVP in German, to show they still want the party in the government, but without Blocher. Widmer-Schlumpf, the canton of Graubunden's finance minister, asked lawmakers for more time to decide whether to accept the position and promised to give her answer tomorrow.

Decision Is Made

``Whatever she decides, we've made our mind: SVP will move to the opposition,'' party deputy Oskar Freysinger said on Swiss national radio RSR. Even if Widmer-Schlumpf refuses to take the post, Blocher won't make it back to the government, he said.

The last time a party went into opposition was in 1954, when the Social Democrats boycotted the government to reinforce their claim for a second seat. The make-up of the government has only changed once since 1959, when Blocher took a second seat in the Cabinet for the SVP four years ago at the expense of the Christian Democrats.

Even if the People's Party goes into opposition, stability is likely to continue. The seven Cabinet ministers, bound by collective responsibility, need the backing of both houses of parliament for their proposals. Voters can challenge any decision by launching a referendum.

While the SVP can kick both Widmer-Schlumpf and Defense Minister Samuel Schmid, who was re-elected today, out of the party faction, it can't force them to leave the Cabinet. The SVP can't be in the opposition with two members in the government.

`Completely Isolated'

``If she accepts, she will be without a party, completely isolated,'' Maurer said.

Widmer-Schlumpf and Schmid may join another political party, said Toni Bortoluzzi, an SVP member in the lower house of parliament. Being in the opposition ``will make it lot easier for the SVP,'' he said in an interview. ``We are ready for the battle.''

Blocher helped transform the SVP from a farmers' party to a populist anti-immigrant party that drew criticism from a United Nations anti-racism watchdog in the last elections.

``Blocher wasn't appropriate for the government,'' Hans- Juerg Fehr, president of the Social Democratic Party, said in an interview after the vote. ``Today's eviction is a result of his own behavior; it just was too much.''

The SVP, which boosted support by playing on many voters' reservations about foreigners and the EU, is also considered pro-business and backed by many executives because it favors lower taxes, less state control and more privatization.

Ministers Re-Elected

The 246 lawmakers from the lower and upper houses also re- elected Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger of the Social Democratic Party, Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz of the Free Democrats, Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin of the Free Democrats, Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey of the Social Democrats and Economy Minister Doris Leuthard of the Christian Democrats.

Lawmakers also elected Couchepin as Switzerland's president in 2008. He'll serve a one-year term.

Widmer-Schlumpf won 125 votes, three more than the minimum needed, said Andre Bugnon, president of the lower house of parliament. If she accepts the Cabinet position, it will be the first time three women have been in the Swiss government at the same time.

``I'm astonished that the left put has forward a candidate who herself was not aware of it,'' Gregor Rutz, the party's secretary-general, told reporters before the vote.