Death Bernese politician Werner Martignoni dies at the age of 97
The long-standing Bernese SVP politician Werner Martignoni has died. The former member of the government and National Councillor died at the age of 97. He had held offices at local, cantonal and national level and was a candidate for the Federal Council.
03.01.2025, 21:48
03.01.2025, 21:49
SDA
His daughter confirmed information from Tamedia newspapers to the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday. Martignoni died voluntarily on Monday at home in a suburb of Bern together with his wife in the presence of relatives. He suffered from physical ailments.
Over the course of his career, the economist and NZZ journalist held offices for the SVP at local, cantonal and national level: in 1965 he was elected mayor of Muri, in 1966 he was elected to the Grand Council, eight years later he was elected to the cantonal government and five years later he was elected to the National Council.
The Jura conflict was a key issue in his political work. As President of the Jura delegation in the cantonal government and Finance Director, he led the negotiations with the new canton on the division of assets, which ultimately resulted in a concordat.
Conviction in party donation affair
In 1979, the Bernese SVP nominated Martignoni as a candidate for the Federal Council to succeed Rudolf Gnägi. However, the Federal Assembly then elected Leon Schlumpf, a member of the Council of States from Graubünden and price supervisor, meaning that for the first time in the history of the federal state, Bern was no longer represented in the federal government.
For Martignoni, the affair that broke out in 1984 in the canton of Berne concerning the misappropriation of lottery funds by the cantonal government weighed heavily, prompting Martignoni and Police Director Hans Krähenbühl to resign from the cantonal government in 1986. The affair shook the canton of Bern for years to come.
A party donation affair that came to light shortly afterwards even had criminal consequences for Martignoni, who had been a prominent politician for many years. Incitement to embezzlement and a three-month prison sentence were the verdict handed down by the high court.
After retiring from politics, Martignoni worked as a writer. He translated works of world literature such as Goethe's Faust and Ibsen's Peer Gynt into Bernese German.
