© KEYSTONE/CYRIL ZINGARO
Four candidates on the right, four on the left: the two main Vaudois alliances renewed their list on Monday evening for the second round of the election to the Council of State scheduled for April 10.
Now without Christelle Luisier (PLR), the only one elected on Sunday in the first round, the Right Alliance has maintained Isabelle Moret (PLR), Frédéric Borloz (PLR), Michaël Buffat (UDC) and Valérie Dittli (Le Center). On the left, the pink-green ticket made up of Nuria Gorrite, Rebecca Ruiz, Celsa Amarelle (all three PS) and Vassilis Venizelos (Greens) has also been confirmed.
These eight candidates will fight for the six remaining places in the Vaudois government. Names from other parties could be added by Tuesday noon, the deadline for submitting lists, but they will have no chance of being elected on April 10.
Close team
“We have achieved what few people imagined: we have created a real team. A team of heart!”, noted Michaël Buffat. The UDC national councilor insisted, like his running mate, on “the complementarity” between the right-wing candidates and the “friendship” which was born between them over the course of the campaign. “The Vaud population felt it,” he added.
Although in a position of strength, the Alliance warned that nothing was yet decided. “The challenge is fundamental. We must continue with passion and humility. We can do it!”, Declared Christelle Luisier, haranguing her party colleagues, gathered Monday evening at Aquatis in Lausanne.
The outgoing minister called for a compact vote for April 10. “Each name that we cross out is a voice for the left,” she insisted.
“Venomous talk”
The president of the Vaudois PLR, Marc-Olivier Buffat, also warned that “the campaign will harden” for the second round. He notably denounced the “venomous remarks” of the president of the Socialist Party, Jessica Jaccoud, who “stigmatized” Michaël Buffat as a candidate of the “extreme right”.
Valérie Dittli noted that the Right Alliance had opposed “a clear no thank you” to the Vert’liberals, who would have agreed to unite with the PLR and the Center, but without the UDC. “We are a team of five, and it is with this team that we will conquer the majority,” she said.
“Bring the Cup Home”
Gathered during this time at the Maison du Peuple in Lausanne, the socialist delegates also voted for the pink-green ticket by applause.
“We’re tied and we’re going to win,” said Jessica Jaccoud. “It will be necessary to convince and mobilize”, she summarized again. “We are going to bring the cup home,” said Nuria Gorrite, using the sporting metaphor.
Shortly before, the Greens, gathered a few steps away in a restaurant in the city center, had also validated this strategy.
The Green Liberals give up
Finally, note that the Green Liberals, meeting behind closed doors in Lausanne, decided not to present any candidate. Their best representative, Graziella Schaller, came in 10th place on Sunday with 9% of the vote.
“The Waldensian Greens continue to assert their independence,” they said in a statement. They give no voting instructions for the second round.
Together on the Left, whose best candidate Hadrien Buclin had come close to 7%, will also be absent from the second round. In a press release, the radical left party asks to vote against the UDC and the PLR, but without openly supporting the pink-green list.
The POP has also decided to withdraw its candidates, he said in a statement. He calls to vote for the ticket of the PS and the Greens.