Beat Jans chosen as Switzerland’s new cabinet minister

Following three rounds of voting on December 13, 2023, Beat Jans beat his fellow left-wing Social Democratic Party rivals Daniel Jositsch and Jon Pult for a seat in the Swiss cabinet on December 13, 2023. Keystone / Anthony Anex

Parliament has elected Beat Jans from Basel to Switzerland's seven-member Federal Council (executive body). He will replace the outgoing interior minister, Alain Berset.

Following three rounds of voting, Jans beat his fellow left-wing Social Democratic Party rivals Daniel Jositsch and Jon Pult on Wednesday. Jans won 134 votes out of 245 in the third round. Jositsch received 68 votes and Pult from Grisons 43. The absolute majority was set at 123 votes. Jositsch was not on the official Social Democrat ticket. This did not prevent him from receiving a large number of votes in each round.

+ Experience vs. enthusiasm: contest to find new Swiss government minister

Jans, 59, has been the president of the Basel City cantonal government for around three years. He is a former federal parliamentarian and vice president of the Social Democratic Party.

He grew up in Riehen, near Basel, in a working-class family. He completed an apprenticeship as a farmer and trained as an agricultural engineer before studying environmental sciences at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich. He is married with two daughters aged 16 and 18.

Jans has been a fixture in local and national politics for over two decades. He joined the Basel Social Democrats at the age of 34. He was a member of the House of Representatives for ten years prior to his election to the Basel City government in 2020, which he has chaired ever since. Prior to that, he was a member of Basel City’s parliament and was vice-president of the Social Democratic Party between 2015 and 2020.

He received the most votes in both the 2015 and 2019 House of Representatives elections. And in 2020, he made it into the Basel City government as a newcomer in the first round of voting.

He is know for his enthusiasm, eloquence and closeness to the people. His political friends describe him as a “bridge-builder” who knows how to forge compromises and deal with criticism. He concentrates on the facts and “showboating is not his thing”, according to Eric Nussbaumer, president of the House of Representatives.

He is the third federal councillor to come from canton Basel City since the modern federal state was founded in 1848.

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