Online reports – Politics – SP woman Kathrin Schweizer is in pole position

© Photo by Peter Knechtli, OnlineReports.ch

“Conceptually without digressions”: SP top politician Schweizer

The Muttenz district councillor and municipal councillor has the potential to become the first social democratic government councillor in the Basel region

From Peter Knechtli

After being kicked out three years ago, the Baselbieter SP is pushing its way back into the cantonal government. Elections are in a year, and the application carousel is already starting to turn. OnlineReports counts Muttenz district councillor Kathrin Schweizer among the left-wing top favorites. Her candidacy would have a good chance of returning the Social Democrats to government.

She is not a woman who speaks loudly, but she can be very assertive. She never pushes herself into the foreground, but is all the more influential in the background. She appears reserved, but can be all the more quick-witted in public discourse. The 48-year-old Muttenz SP district councillor Kathrin Schweizer is at a crossroads in her political career.

Push back into government

The Baselbieter Social Democrats are now trying to get back on their feet after the resounding slap in the face in the 2015 elections. At that time, the Left Party was beaten out of the five-member cantonal government, in which it held one seat. The fact that the SP stagnated in the cantonal council – while the SVP won the historic record of 28 seats – was bad luck in several constituencies, but certainly no consolation for the historic banishment from co-responsibility in government to the role of opposition.

The Social Democrats had entered the fight for a left-green government majority with two candidates with equal gender representation – something that is now admitted to have been a presumptuous mistake. In the end, they suffered a crushing defeat. The trade unionist Daniel Münger, recommended by the Chamber of Commerce, dropped out, while state archivist Regula Nebiker managed to get an absolute majority, but was eliminated as surplus.

The woman of the hour

If the SP had restricted itself to women candidates and the dissident Green Party member Jürg Wiedemann had not drummed up support for the liberal novice Monica Gschwind, Regula Nebiker would probably have been elected. Instead, the Liberal Party of all people shone with two women in government: Monica Gwschind and Sabine Pegoraro.

For the traditional gender party SP, there is now no alternative but to return to government with a female candidate: Kathrin Schweizer is the woman of the hour.

This was not apparent for years. After her election to the district council eleven years ago, she appeared to more than one observer as a “little grey mouse” (as a left-green district councillor told OnlineReports), a politician who “needed encouragement”. In her role as parliamentary group president from 2011 to 2015, she probably had the reins firmly in her hands internally, but externally she was unable to significantly strengthen the voice of the SP.

Little personal information known

She rarely reveals anything personal about herself. Her moderately informative website only says that she is on holiday with her husband in the Alps somewhere between Nice and Vienna and “walks through the most beautiful landscapes when the weather is dry”. Nevertheless, it is clear that there is more hidden behind Kathrin Schweizer than can be seen, heard or read. “She has developed a lot in recent years,” observed a long-time companion of her ability to “think conceptually and objectively in a targeted manner without digressions”.

Without a doubt, the biologist with a postgraduate degree in environmental sciences, who works as a project manager in the transport sector in the Basel Department of Construction and Transport, is one of the most valuable assets of the Baselbieter SP. She convinces top people with her “broad range of topics and her confidence in her dossier”. Her attitude is “very clear, approachable and passionately committed”.

Major success against “Elba” concept

Her most spectacular political success to date is undoubtedly her victory in the vote on the Lower Baselbieter road concept “Elba” in November 2015: Together with her parliamentary colleague Martin Rüegg, she was the head of the campaign that opposed the project and won at the ballot box with a 61 percent no vote – a historic surprise in the road-building-friendly Baselbiet.

Confidants report that they also spent “nights” and “countless hours” working on the popular initiative for reduced health insurance premiums. With this popular initiative, the SP under its new president Adil Koller achieved an unusual success in collecting signatures: 5,460 signatures were collected within a week.

Three years of executive experience

Schweizer found acceptance among the electorate in 2015 when she won a by-election to the municipal council. A year later, the Left shone in the general election with the best results of all seven municipal councils. “I didn't expect that, I was very pleased,” she says with her own caution that she is also able to appeal to the bourgeois electorate.

Today, she is gaining executive experience as vice-mayor. The more middle-class council members – i.e. one vote – describe her as “cooperative”, “very pleasant” and “able to argue”. As co-president of the SP Muttenz, she is not above doing grassroots work.

The source who spoke of the earlier “little mouse” perception has now radically changed her opinion of Kathrin Schweizer: “She has made her way. I experience her very differently today than I did eight years ago.” She would also be able to continue to grow in government office.

Marti or Schweizer to Bern?

But the most crucial question of all for Kathrin Schweizer is which path she wants to decide: Liestal or Bern. Because the government mandate is not the only option available. If the long-standing SP National Councilor Susanne Leutenegger Oberholzer, who just celebrated her seventieth birthday, resigns early this year – which is generally expected – Schweizer would be a comfortable successor in Bern as a serious newcomer.

Women's politician Leutenegger Oberholzer will not be at a disadvantage to make room for a woman. Three years ago, she and a women's committee campaigned for Regula Nebiker to be elected to the government. Even if Kathrin Schweizer decides to run for government, there would still be a seat free for a woman in the National Council: for the 24-year-old Juso woman and party vice-president Samira Marti. The Ziefener Economist and sociologist has already gained respect as a young left-wing talent.

SP belongs in the government

It is still unclear how the SP will pull the pearl necklace of women. The SP will decide on the nomination on June 20. The chances that Basel-Landschaft will delegate the Social Democrats back into government are high.

On the one hand, the bourgeois parties are divided over the seat claim – the defense of the two historic seats of the FDP (19 percent of the vote) is on shaky ground, while the double representation of others, long desired by the SVP (just under 27 percent), is anything but a done deal. On the other hand, the legislative record of the SP-free government is so unconvincing that even bourgeois voters have come to the realization that the SP, with its 22 percent vote, belongs in the executive.

When asked by OnlineReports whether she was interested in running for government office, Kathrin Schweizer said succinctly: “It's a very interesting position. I don't want to say anything more.”

20 March 2018

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