The Zurich Cantonal Council will not be reduced from 180 to 150 or even 120 members. The council decided on Monday. (archive image)
The majority of the Zurich cantonal council want to keep their office. The Council rejected the SVP’s postulate for a reduction in seats by 90 votes against and 79 in favor. Parliament will therefore continue to consist of 180 members.
With its postulate, the SVP wanted to achieve that the council “become more efficient”. She believed that fewer minds would work faster. In addition, the frustration potential of the individual council members can be reduced in this way, because they can get more involved in commissions, for example.
Smaller Parliament could be more efficient
However, only the center could do something with this argument. “If we see how many unnecessary requests are submitted, it could actually be that a smaller parliament works more efficiently,” said Yvonne Bürgin (Rüti). If fewer people were vying for attention, there would be more time for the essentials, i.e. legal advice.
All other factions, however, disagreed. “The remaining heads would only be more heavily burdened,” said Dieter Kläy (FDP, Winterthur). In addition, the real time wasters are not the advances, but the complex bills such as the water law, structure plans and the like.
Effort for individuals would increase
Benno Scherrer (GLP, Uster) said that if a cantonal council mandate involves even more work, you have to ask yourself whether it is still suitable for the militia. Lack of time is already the main reason for early resignations from the Council.
For SP Canton Councilor Sylvie Matter (Zurich), the advance was like a “Pandora’s box” because it would entail a whole series of problems and open questions. “It would take constituency reform,” she said. This would create mini constituencies that could hardly be represented in a balanced way.
Individual representatives nonetheless voted in favor of referral to the Executive Board of the Council, but only out of interest in the explanatory report that would then have been produced.
Tight spaces
However, the real trigger for the SVP initiative was not the desire for more efficiency, but the desire for more space. The parliamentary group submitted the initiative last April, at the same time as the cantonal council was debating the planned conversion of the old town hall on Limmatquai.
Even then it was clear that even a conversion cannot conjure up generous space. The SVP then submitted this proposal for the reduction of the parliament. (SDA)