Historical step towards gender parity in Switzerland: 10% increase in female parliamentarians

Last Sunday, the Swiss population voted for their representatives in parliament. The proportion of women representatives reached 42%, a result that can be considered historically significant. In fact, women representatives formed 32% of the parliament in the last term. Moreover, the elections also demonstrated a shift in the number of seats allocated to the right conservative party SVP towards environmentally friendly parties, such as GLP and GPS. However, contrary to prior expectations, both the climate and women’s strikes did not have a positive impact on voter turnout. In fact, election participation decreased by 3% compared to 2017, reaching 45,1% this year.