Talk:2023 Swiss Federal Council election

Stepping Down

"Councillors tend to stand down during their term in order to ensure their party retains their seat and to allow their party to get more visibility at a moment other than shortly after a general election."

I'm not sure I understand this wording, and am wondering if perhaps anyone has a better idea to explain this tradition? I read the source material, but it's not clear, either. Criticalthinker (talk) 07:15, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

I think the issue here may be language? Are we talking about standing down meaning simply announcing retirement and to not stand for re-election? If that's the case, is strikes me that you could literally only stand down "during their term" in office, which makes the wording strange. I do need someone to explain this sentence better in the context of Federal Council elections in Switzerland, because as currently written in English, it doesn't make much sense. Criticalthinker (talk) 06:45, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

Anyone? You can't stand down after you term is up, so what does it mean "Councillors tend to stand down during their term"? Criticalthinker (talk) 10:18, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

I think what is meant is resigning before the term is up. An example of this was Doris Leuthard in 2018 whose party the (then) CVP was expected to loose seats in the upcoming 2019 election and so she announced that she would be resigning per 31 December 2018. She was then replaced by Viola Amherd. This sort of ensuring continuity works because usually councillors are reelected if they dont announce that they wont be seeking the reelection. And by usually I mean always except for twice in the last (I belive) 100+ years. So Leuthard (who was in office since 2006 and expected to resign in 2019) left a year early and because incumbents are usually elected despite the CVP ending up loosing seats in the 2019 parliamentary election, Amherd was reelected. That is the mechanism that is meant, I presume. I don't think that sentence is relevant in the context of this article though because the 2023 (federal concil) election was a regular one where all councillors are up for reelection. And Berset's (who resigned) party, the SP, was not projected to loose and didnt loose any seats in the 2023 parliamentary election. LPZ (talk) 11:58, 3 January 2024 (UTC)

I think I understand, though I'd still say some terms are not being used even here as they are typically used in (American) English. In the American parlance, Berset didn't "resign", he simply announced he wouldn't be seeking re-election, which is what we'd call a "retirement." I also think how the current article(s) use "stand down" is not how we'd use it, here. "Stand down" means the same thing as "retirement" here, and it's a more common term in England where it basically means the same thing. "Resignation" is a distinct term in our language which means to step down (not stand down) before someone's term is completed. So, anyone else reading this who writes/edits these articles, I hope this helps in writing for Englis-language wiki. Criticalthinker (talk) 07:18, 5 January 2024 (UTC)