Pressure from party colleagues Andreas Glarner to step down as SVP president in Aargau

The controversial politician Andreas Glarner could soon no longer be at the helm of the SVP Aargau. Internal tensions and pressure from party colleagues could lead to his resignation.

The SVP Aargau recently achieved considerable success in the cantonal elections. Martina Bircher, a prominent representative of the party, was elected to the cantonal government and the party won five additional seats in the cantonal elections, increasing its voter share to 34 percent. Despite these successes, there is unrest within the party, particularly due to internal conflicts at leadership level.

These tensions have already led to the resignation of the leader of the parliamentary group in the cantonal parliament. Now Andreas Glarner, the president of the SVP Aargau, is also in the spotlight. According to research by "Blick", Glarner is planning to announce his resignation at the upcoming board meeting on December 12. When asked, however, Glarner did not want to confirm this and simply said "No comment".

One reason for the dissatisfaction within the party is Glarner's provocative statements on social media, which cast the SVP in a negative light. One incident that caused a stir was Glarner's criticism of a centrist councillor who had supported the naturalization of a young man who had committed crimes as a minor.

In office since 2020

This action led to death threats against the councillor, who was subsequently placed under police protection. Glarner condemned the threats, but received support from Marcel Dettling, President of the SVP Switzerland, who emphasized that Glarner had merely pointed out the Grand Councillor's political stance.

Within the party leadership in Aargau, Glarner's behavior was seen as excessive and he was advised to make way for a new leader. One of Glarner's party colleagues sees the possible resignation as an opportunity to leave at a high point, but as Glarner is considered stubborn, he could decide to stay in office out of spite.

Andreas Glarner took over as cantonal president in 2020 after the SVP lost the National Council elections. He mobilized the party base with a passionate speech and prevailed against a more moderate rival. Glarner remains active at national level, having been a member of the National Council since 2015.

This article was created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). All content created by AI is verified by the editorial team.