BERN - The party list, in the order the nomination committee published it, is Thomas Aeschi, National Council, nominated by Zug; Céline Amaudruz, National Council and party vice-president, Geneva; Marco Chiesa, Council of States and a former party president, Ticino; Jean-Pierre Gallati, cantonal government, Aargau; Michael Graber, National Council, Valais; Franz Ruppen, cantonal government, Valais; Pierre Alain Schnegg, president of the Bern government, from the Bernese Jura; and Rémy Wyssmann, National Council, Solothurn. Two candidates come from French-speaking Switzerland, one from Ticino and five from German-speaking Switzerland. Amaudruz, 47, is the only woman. Schnegg, 63, has run Bern's health department since 2016. Chiesa is 52. Zug put Aeschi forward, although Le Temps reported on Friday that the group leader had not yet given a final personal confirmation. The committee, chaired by former group president Caspar Baader, will hold hearings in the coming weeks and says it may still approach other people.
What the hearings will test
The party says candidates will be judged on armed neutrality and Swiss self-determination, the EU treaty package, asylum and migration, the army and internal security, relief for the middle class and for firms, and a secure, affordable energy supply. Leadership experience matters as much as doctrine, it said, because the difficult departments are justice and police, and defence. That is a job description as much as a shortlist. Parmelin's departure also reopens a language question. If parliament picks a German-speaker or the Ticino candidate, French-speaking Switzerland loses a seat in the seven-member government. Amaudruz would be the first woman elected to the Federal Council as an official candidate of the People's Party. Reports from inside the party say her candidacy has already met reservations.
A field that looked thinner a week ago
The width of Friday's list is the surprise. Earlier in the month the obvious names were declining. Zurich government councillor Natalie Rickli ruled out a bid, and Schwyz's André Rüegsegger did the same. Parmelin's own resignation, announced at the start of October, had already set off a scramble the party tried to keep inside its cantonal branches. The scramble is now public. Hearings come first. The ticket the group adopts on 20 November is what the rest of parliament will actually vote on, in the Federal Palace, on 9 December.