The big Zurich election debate: Tempo 30 in the villages and towns? Carmen Walker Späh, Benno Scherrer, Anne-Claude Hensch and Ernst Stocker discuss
Tempo 30 in the villages and towns? Ernst Stocker, Carmen Walker Späh, Anne-Claude Hensch and Benno Scherrer discuss
The candidates for the government council meet in our editorial office. We’re streaming the event live. Ask your questions.
On February 12, Zurich elects a new government. But who should lead the canton for the next four years? Get to know the politicians – at the TA live debate. We are broadcasting the talks live on our website and reporting online and in print.
Anne-Claude Hensch (AL), Benno Scherrer (GLP), Ernst Stocker (SVP) and Carmen Walker Späh (FDP) meet on Friday at 5 p.m. Join in and ask the candidates your questions. You can do that during the event, but you can also do it now by submitting your question below. We will put a selection of them live.
Anne-Claude Hensch (AL, 56, new)
To person: Anne-Claude Hensch grew up in a middle-class, binational home. She lived in western Switzerland for 17 years and became a curative and social worker there. Her major political issue is social justice. In her first parliamentary initiative in the cantonal council, she called for a women’s quota of 40 percent in the cantonal council. She did not find a majority with it.
Hensch is a reserved left-wing member of the cantonal council who is strongly committed to fighting poverty. Your parliamentary colleague Judith Stofer Exactly you in the «Limmattal Newspaper» as «warm-hearted, refreshingly non-ideological and yet with a critical spirit».
Benno Scherrer (GLP, 57, new)
To person: In the past few days, Benno Scherrer has posted a funny election campaign video online. In it he babbles on to his friends and his life partner about his plans, which he wants to realize in the government council. Lower the tax burden, save the environment, tackle the European question and fix the “educational chaos” in schools. “It can’t be that children have ten different teachers!”
In serious campaign interviews, Scherrer once again hinted that he is directing his candidacy primarily against Education Director Silvia Steiner, who is considered the most shaky candidate of the seven members of the government running for office.
Benno Scherrer is difficult to classify politically, but is more on the right-wing edge in the GLP faction. In the cantonal council, he rarely attracts attention with his pointed voices. If you look at the list of his not very numerous advances, you will find them mainly from transport and not from education policy.
In his early years, Scherrer was on the transport commission of the cantonal council. As President of the Cantonal Council, he had the Council’s operations well under control and confidently led through the meetings.
Ernst Stocker (SVP, 67, previously)
Strengthen: With his balancing character, Ernst Stocker is the calming influence in the government council. He has always dared to contradict extreme demands from his party. Most recently, he criticized National Councilor Roger Köppel for his pro-Putin friendliness and blamed him for the current crisis in the SVP. As the chief financial officer of an 18 billion household, he has remained true to agriculture, working as a temporary worker on the family farm in Wädenswil during the summer holidays.
Weaknesses: Ernst Stocker is not so good at saying no. So this time he is only running because his party, lacking alternatives, has again pushed him to run for office at retirement age. He himself would have preferred to stop governing now.
Successes: As finance director, Ernst Stocker had the financial budget under control. Under Stocker, the canton of Zurich has always received top marks from the rating agencies for its budget management, which is reflected in favorable conditions when borrowing money. In 2019, the people accepted the propagated Tax Bill 17. The debt burden was massively reduced under Stocker – before Corona came. During Corona, he quickly made hardship payments available to thousands of companies in need.
Failure: Stocker suffered one of his biggest defeats when he voted no to the national corporate tax reform III. He personally campaigned for it. He also clearly lost two cantonal votes in September 2020. The canton has to pay more for the supplementary services and give money from the cantonal road fund to the municipalities.
Carmen Walker Späh (FDP, 64, so far)
Strengthen: CWS, as Carmen Walker Späh is known in political circles, is not easily discouraged. After various electoral defeats, she never gave up and has been a member of the government for almost eight years. Carmen Walker Späh is considered reliable and conscientious.
Weaknesses: They often argue something artificial: location promotion, innovative strength, investment in the future – sounds like read from the FDP party program. When it comes to road traffic, it is accepted by political opponents with little willingness to compromise and is also referred to as “Beton-Carmen”.
Successes: At the beginning of the Corona period, your administration managed to process tens of thousands of applications for short-time work in a very short time. So many jobs were saved. After setbacks, the innovation park on the airfield site in Dübendorf is on the road to success. Under the leadership of Carmen Walker Späh, a strategy and loan applications to Parliament were developed this year. Before her time on the government council, she was primarily responsible for ensuring that childcare outside the family was able to win a majority in the FDP.
Failure: In 2020, the Rosengarten tunnel in the city of Zurich was rejected in a referendum. Walker Späh had campaigned for this throughout her political life, most recently as Minister of Transport for the Canton of Zurich. As the airport manager for the canton of Zurich, she did not manage to soften the fronts in the noise dispute. Within the party, she suffered painful electoral defeats. She failed in marching out for a city council candidacy and was successful in her national council candidacy and in her candidacy for the FDP presidency.
Found a mistake?Report now.