A New Citizen, a Vacant Seat: Oberweningen’s Small Political Paradox

Swiss local politics likes to present itself as civic duty in its most modest form: no grandstanding, no career ladder, just ordinary people taking responsibility. That picture still holds, at least on ceremonial evenings with Regierungsrätin Jacqueline Fehr and a room full of municipal officials. Yet the more telling scene is elsewhere: a man who was still German when the official election material was already on its way to voters, and who now sits on the council in Oberweningen only a few days after taking office.

Stephan Kandelhardt became a Swiss citizen in December. Not long afterwards he came across the Canton of Zurich’s recruitment campaign, “Deine Gemeinde braucht dich”, which is designed to coax people into local office. He noticed that in Oberweningen only three official candidates had stepped forward for five seats on the municipal council. That is not exactly a triumphant endorsement of the militia system; it is more the sort of arithmetic that makes administrators reach for another campaign.

Kandelhardt did what Swiss local democracy increasingly seems to require: he organised. Neighbours helped him launch his own campaign, flyers covered the village, friends were asked to put in a word in clubs and among acquaintances, and the strategy worked. He won in the first round as a non-partisan candidate. Before he had voting rights, he had already been attending municipal assemblies as an observer, struck by the habit of citizens simply standing up and speaking. One can call that direct democracy; one could also call it a system that depends heavily on people having time, patience and a taste for meetings.

Oberweningen is not alone. In Altikon, no one even wanted the municipal presidency, so the compulsory-service rule had to be used and someone was elected who had not run at all. Jacqueline Fehr insists the militia model is not outdated. She says it remains an important resource when people from the middle of society take on political responsibility. She also admits, with unusual frankness, that these offices could be made more attractive. The public, she says, is often rather stingy when it comes to compensation.

The Canton of Zurich is trying to help where it can, with digital and analogue platforms, exchanges between municipalities and concrete support for digitalisation projects. It also stages events to connect municipalities with one another. Kandelhardt, for his part, welcomed the relaxed atmosphere and said he enjoyed it. That is pleasant enough. But it does not change the basic fact: a wealthy, well-educated canton is leaning on freshly naturalised residents to keep local democracy staffed. It is a practical arrangement, certainly. It is also a slightly awkward one, and not only for the people who have to print the flyers.

Written by Freya Stensrud freya.stensrud@alpineweekly.com