ZURICH - For weeks, Natalie Rickli was the name every corridor conversation in Bern returned to. On Monday the Zurich SVP ended the speculation in a short statement: its government councillor is not available for the Federal Council.
"A Zurich representation in the Federal Council is justified and would be important," Rickli said in the party's release. "But the canton of Zurich also relies on a stable government." She wants to concentrate fully on her office, she added, and she faces the voters for re-election next spring. The reasoning is classic cantonal realism: a Zurich councillor who campaigns for Bern in autumn while asking Zurich for a new mandate in spring risks losing both.
The field that keeps shrinking
Rickli is the third heavyweight to step aside in a race that has so far been defined by refusals. Magdalena Martullo-Blocher said no earlier in October, Esther Friedli has also ruled herself out, and on Monday the Schwyz SVP confirmed that its councillor André Rüegsegger will not stand either. What remains is a list of names that was long in September and is suddenly, conspicuously manageable.
The party's machinery keeps turning regardless. Cantonal sections have until Friday, 23 October, to put candidates forward, and the parliamentary faction will settle its ticket on 20 November. The SVP has already decided to present at least two names, leaving open the option of a three-name ticket like the one Parmelin himself beat in 2015.
What Bern loses, Zurich keeps
Rickli's withdrawal matters beyond the SVP. She was the one prospective candidate who combined executive experience, a big-canton power base and proven appeal beyond her party's core electorate, the profile that usually wins a Federal Council seat. Without her, the election on 9 December looks more open than any in recent memory, and other parties will read the thinning field as an invitation to test the SVP's claim to Parmelin's seat.
Parmelin himself announced his departure at the end of September, citing weariness after eleven years in office. Whoever takes his place on 1 January inherits the economics ministry, the EU file in its most delicate phase, and now, it seems, a shorter queue at the door than anyone expected.