Geneva elections, Socialists lose seat
Update 15:40 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Cantonal elections in Geneva for the executive council, the Conseil d’état, confirmed a rightward shift in the political mood, Sunday 15 November. The centre-right alliance won four of the seven seats, while the centre-left won three. Two women are on the council, and extremists on either side of the spectrum were eliminated.
On the centre-right: the Radical party’s François Longchamp, Christian Democrat Pierre-François Unger and the Liberal party’s Mark Muller were re-elected. They were joined by newly elected Liberal Isabel Rochat.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU centre-right bloc polled almost 34 percent in the German general election Sunday 27 September while her government coalition partners, the centre-left socialist party, SPD, obtained their worst results since the Second World War, with 23.4 percent. The results allow Merkel to ditch the socialists and open talks with the business-friendly liberal party, FDP about forming a new government underpinned by a stable majority in parliament.The FDP obtained almost 15 percent of the vote, its best result ever.
Germany is in the midst of its worst economic crisis in decades, the economy is expected to contract by five percent this year, and the liberal party will want to discuss health care reform, tax cuts and a reduction of the welfare state before joining a government. CNN, NZZ, Reuters
Rosy tax rates for rich foreigners could end in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – The Socialist Party in Geneva has submitted a proposal that would change the canton’s tax laws by abolishing lump sum tax agreements for very wealthy foreigners. Geneva currently has some 650 foreign residents who benefit from the lump sum break, worth CHF70 million a year in revenue for the canton, according to Le Temps.
The margin by which Martine Aubry defeated Ségolène Royal to lead the Socialist Party in France was so tiny, 0.04%, that the party’s already badly divided leadership has been thrown into turmoil, and “it is now being ridiculed for its personal enmities and rivalries, making it seem less a serious political alternative than an afternoon soap opera,” writes the Paris-based International Herald Tribune.
