BL cantonal council District Council does not want higher hurdles for small parties in the Basel region

On Thursday, the Basel-Landschaft cantonal council dealt with the electoral law reform in the first reading. Among other things, this provides for the introduction of a quorum. The SVP proposed increasing the quorum in the constituencies, which would represent a greater hurdle for small parties. Parliament rejected this, however.

The SVP parliamentary group demanded that a list in a constituency must receive 10 instead of 5 percent of all party votes there or at least 5 instead of just 3 percent of voters in the canton as a whole in order to be able to participate in the distribution of seats. SVP parliamentary group spokesman Martin Karrer argued that disregarding "exotic lists" could prevent more seat jumps.

The small parties opposed this. Tim Hagmann (GLP) raised the question of whether the Green Liberals and the EPP were considered "exotic lists". Andrea Heger (EPP) said that a quorum would increase the power of those who are already big and reduce the choice.

The two parties received support from the SP, although as a large party it could lose seats as a result of the electoral law reform. Ronja Jansen, for example, said that there was no reason why votes should count less if they went to a small party. Parliament ultimately rejected the SVP proposals by 50 votes to 15 and 62 votes to 14 respectively.

The revision of the law on political rights stipulates that from 2027, the cantonal council will be elected according to the canton-wide double proportional representation system. This should better reflect the actual strength of the parties than the current electoral system. In addition, seat jumps between constituencies are to be minimized.

Parliament will vote on this reform in a second reading. However, the people of Basel-Landschaft will have the final say at the ballot box anyway.

SDA