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He was absent from around every fifth vote: “Weltwoche” editor-in-chief and National Councilor Roger Köppel.
One vote made the difference. Ironically, Roger Köppel (57), SVP National Councilor and President of the “EU-No” committee, was absent last June when the National Council voted on a controversial European policy initiative. The large chamber said yes – if Köppel had been there, the advance would have been off the table.
Rarely does a vote go so close. But Köppel’s absences are frequent. Blick has evaluated which parliamentarians have been absent from the Council most often since the 2019 elections. As from 2015 to 2019, Köppel is the number 1 truant. The “Weltwoche” editor-in-chief missed about every fifth vote in the National Council. In the past three years he has been absent 21 days without an excuse, which corresponds to 13 percent of the session time.
GLP and Mitte politicians are the most absent
Ex-BDP President Martin Landolt (54) was also often absent. The Glarner missed 744 of 3925 votes – almost as many as Köppel. The Zurich GLP National Councilor Martin Bäumle (58) and the Solothurn Center Member of Parliament Stefan Müller-Altermatt (46) also have a very high absence rate of over 18 percent.
Voting discipline is particularly weak in the case of long-established national councillors. The absence rate is highest in GLP and Mitte, whose parliamentarians miss an average of 5.2 and 4.8 percent of the votes, respectively. The Greens are only missing 2 percent.
“Actually not justifiable”
The truant king Köppel did not respond to a request from Blick. In 2019 he justified the many absences with his work for the “Weltwoche”. In contrast to some faction members who complain about Köppel’s absences behind closed doors, he sees no problem in that. “I’m not an Araldite politician who sticks to the chair to collect attendance fees,” he said in 2019 to the Sunday newspaper.
Martin Landolt also argues that the work of a parliamentarian includes more important things than pressing the voting button – for example the work of the Commission.
This is how Blick calculated it
The evaluation of the voting behavior of the National Councilors is based on Parliament’s voting database. All votes during the regular sessions of the current legislature, i.e. since winter 2019, have been taken into account. The 2022 winter session, which ended recently, could not yet be included. National councilors who have been in the council for less than four sessions are excluded from the evaluation.
The evaluation of the voting behavior of the National Councilors is based on Parliament’s voting database. All votes during the regular sessions of the current legislature, i.e. since winter 2019, have been taken into account. The 2022 winter session, which ended recently, could not yet be included. National councilors who have been in the council for less than four sessions are excluded from the evaluation.
Middle National Councilor Müller-Altermatt is more self-critical. An absence rate as high as his is “actually not justifiable”, he thinks. “I would have been so glad it was deeper.” Unfortunately, due to the birth of his fifth child and illnesses in the family, it was often not possible to be there anymore.
At GLP colleague Bäumle, meanwhile, the office as a city councilor in Dübendorf ZH is the reason for the many absences in Bern. “There are conflicting appointments – and then I have to prioritize,” he says. In addition, he does not always run to the National Council chamber for a vote, for example when he is having a meeting with guests in the Federal Palace. But: “If it’s about central business or if it could be tight, I’ll of course vote.”
Who is absent most often without an excuse?
It has to be said: a vote is quickly missed. It is not uncommon for the National Council to vote several dozen times in one day. By the way: If you don’t show up at all in the Federal Palace on a day, you won’t get the attendance fee of 440 francs per day. Unless you are excused – because of illness, accident or maternity leave.
The Parliamentary Services also keep a record of these full-day absences. In addition to Köppel in first place on the list of unexcused truants, second and third place are also occupied by members of the SVP parliamentary group. Ticino’s Lorenzo Quadri (48) and Yvette Estermann (55) from Lucerne each missed eleven days without an excuse. Both claim that they were ill but did not report it.
Certain votes are “a waste of time”
On the whole, however, the National Councilors are very conscientious. Almost three quarters of the National Councilors were never absent without an excuse. In the Council of States it is two-thirds. With ten unexcused absences, the Zurich FDP member of the Council of States Ruedi Noser (61) leads the list of absences in the Stöckli, followed by Thurgau Jakob Stark (64, SVP) and Schwyz Othmar Reichmuth (58, middle). You justify the absence with professional or political obligations. Noser also says that he sometimes skips the final votes on the last day of a session because he finds this “a waste of time”.
Blick was unable to evaluate how often the members of the Council of States actually sat at the podium and voted. There are no voting statistics like for the National Council.
Not a single vote missed
While some parliamentarians excel at absenteeism, there are also the conscientious. A handful of National Councilors did not take part in fewer than 10 of the 3,925 votes taken into account in the evaluation.
A member of the National Council has not even missed a single vote in the past three years: SVPler David Zuberbühler (43) from Appenzell-Ausserrhoden. He takes his job very seriously, he says. “Voting is one of the most important tasks for us politicians.”