Grand Council of Geneva

The Grand Council has seven parties, with increasing numbers of right-wing populists and left-wing Greens ending the dominance of the traditional power blocs.

The Grand Council of Geneva (French: Grand Conseil de Genève) is the legislature of the canton of Geneva, in Switzerland. Geneva, styled as a 'Republic and Canton', has a unicameral legislature. The Grand Council was established in 1457, and has 100 seats, with members elected every four years. Members of the canton's executive, the Conseil d'Etat, are elected a month later.

There is a 7% threshold to representation on the Grand Council, with seven parties overcoming that hurdle at the last election, held on 11 October 2009. Then, the Liberal Party won a plurality, with 20 of the 100 seats. However, the centre-right 'Entente', to which the Liberals belong, suffered significant losses, primarily at the expense of the populist Geneva Citizens' Movement, who are the joint-second largest party, with the Green Party.

 Summary of the 11 October 2009 Geneva Grand Council election results

Party		Ideology	Vote %	Vote % ±	Seats	Seats ±
	Liberal Party	Classical liberalism	16.71	–1.71	20	–3
	Green Party	Green politics	15.34	+1.51	17	+1
	Geneva Citizens' Movement	Populism	14.74	+7.01	17	+8
	Social Democratic Party	Social democracy	12.91	–1.71	15	–2
	Christian Democratic People's Party	Christian democracy	9.91	+0.07	11	–1
	Free Democratic Party	Classical liberalism	9.59	–0.90	11	–1
	Swiss People's Party	National conservatism	8.56	–1.04	9	–2
	solidaritéS–Swiss Party of Labour	Socialism	6.40	–7.17^1	0	±0
	Defence of the Elderly	Pensioners' party	5.85	N/A	0	N/A
Total (turnout 39.66%)			100.00	–	100	–
^1 Compared to total of separate solidaritéS (6.67%) and 'Alliance of the Left' (6.90%) lists in 2005
Source: Republic and Canton of Geneva

External links

• (French) Grand Council of Geneva official website