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Green candidate Julia Hofstetter keeps boot goats in Zurich-Seebach.
In just over four weeks, the people of Zurich will have a choice. Over a thousand candidates have stood for the cantonal council. These included more than 50 lawyers, a good 40 doctors and almost 60 economists – the usual suspects, who are particularly well represented in all parliaments.
But there are also candidates with more unusual professions. For example, there is an AL candidate who works as a taxidermist. Or an oenologist, a stonemason and a shoemaker. Blick has looked at the list of candidates and introduces you to those with the most specific professions.
Green candidate Julia Hofstetter (51) is a goatherd in the middle of Zurich-Seebach. She holds so-called boot goats. “With the goat meadow, I wanted to create a place where goats can be happy, children can be wild and adults can be happy,” she says. This is her voluntary commitment to the neighborhood. Hofstetter is not only a goatherd, she is also a biologist, teacher and has her own communications agency.
“I do politics because democracy is important,” she says. The most pressing issues for the Zurich municipal councilor? Climate change and the biodiversity crisis. “I would like to help ensure that we remain level-headed, careful and prudent, even in difficult times, and remain in dialogue with each other,” says Hofstetter.
Center candidate Riccardo Seitz (65) is the managing director of a coffee roasting company. Since 1989, together with the director, he has been in charge of a coffee roasting company on Lake Zurich, namely Illycafé AG. His top priority? The production of high quality roasted coffee.
Seitz was already involved in the JCVP in his youth. He later worked for years on the board of district parties 7 and 8 – he also stands for these districts in the cantonal elections. “The middle party offers a platform to pursue a policy that is as factual and solution-oriented as possible,” he says.
Johanna Raphaela Feusi (EDU, 67), who is a candidate for the Affoltern constituency, does not have an everyday job either: she has been an intercessor since 2014 – so praying is her job. “Prayer is my passion,” she says. She prays alone, but also together with other people, in her house of prayer or outside on the street.
Feusi has been politically active for a good year. At the time, EDU asked her if she would start a prayer group for the party. Because the district presidium became vacant, she also applied for it without further ado. The intercessor says she sees it as her responsibility to get involved politically and to work for the good of the country and the vulnerable.
In addition to politics, SVP candidate Urban Husi (41) has another passion: fish. Or more precisely, the fish import. The fishmonger’s company supplies restaurants and retailers in the Zurich region. Husi, who is a member of the management team, is responsible for procurement and often works with local suppliers.
Husi, who is running for the Bülach district, was active in the city parliament of Opfikon for four years. He has been party president of the SVP Opfikon-Glattbrugg-Glattpark since last year. “I get involved in politics to make a difference and to be involved in the process,” says the fishmonger.
Old councilor Olivia Romanelli (48) from the alternative list also has a special (secondary) job: she is a beekeeper. The candidate for the cantonal council has been keeping bees in the city of Zurich for twelve years and is committed to the preservation of the native honey bee. For example, for the dark honey bee, which is threatened with extinction because it is being pushed out by the international bee trade. «I stand for more diversity. Not only the ecosystem depends on it, but also we humans and our society,” she says.
The beekeeper has been politically active since 2018. For three and a half years she was on the municipal council for the AL. Also for districts 1 and 2, for which she is now a candidate for the cantonal council. In addition to beekeeping, Romanelli works as a teacher.