Swiss Abroad youth parliament receives record number of applications

Young Swiss Abroad on a summer camp in Switzerland attend the Congress of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad in Lugano in 2022. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (blue tie) is next to Filippo Lombardi, president of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) Organisation des Suisses de l’étranger / Adrian Moser

Every two years the Youth Parliament Swiss Abroad (YPSA) elects a new committee. With 17 applications, the number of interested young people has never been so high.

“We had to postpone the results of the election because the candidates for North America obtained identical scores,” says a delighted Francisca Espinoza Trombert, who chaired the committee between 2022 and 2024 and led the new election.

Although the new committee should have been appointed on February 5, the elections were stretched out until February 9 to decide between the three candidates from North America.

After two rounds, 13 young men and women were elected for 2024-2026. All continents were represented, with the exception of Asia. For the first time, South Africa is a member of the YPSAExternal link.

In total 154 members cast 200 votes; each member had the opportunity to vote for two candidates.

The newly elected committee then held its first constitutive meeting, during which it appointed Dutch-Swiss Max Groenveld as president and Colombian-Swiss Sofìa Garcìa-Reyes as vice-president. Garcìa-Reyes was already a member of the previous committee, as were three other re-elected members, including two from Chile and one from the United States.

Strengthening links with Switzerland

YPSA’s new president lives in Amsterdam, where he is studying international relations. “For me, YPSA is synonymous with a link: a link with Switzerland, but also a link with other like-minded young Swiss people around the world,” Groenveld says.

Although he has never lived in Switzerland, he hopes to settle there for a few years to “become a true Swiss citizen”. A large part of his family also lives there. Whenever he visits Switzerland, Groenveld particularly appreciates “the immaculate mountain scenery”. He adds that as the Netherlands is a densely populated country, there is little room for wilderness.

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Sofia Garcia-Reyes’s love of the mountains is also reflected in her love of hiking. Now a lawyer, she attended a Swiss school abroad and took part in several youth camps in Switzerland.

“You always miss Switzerland, but by keeping a link through events or communities such as YPSA, you manage to feel closer to it,” she says.

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South America in force

For the period 2024-2026, five young people will represent South America on the YPSA committee, three will represent Europe and one each will represent Africa, Oceania and Switzerland. Under the articles of association, one seat on the committee is reserved for a Swiss resident. During the years 2022-2024, five young South Americans also sat on the committee, out of a maximum of 13 places.

Francisca Espinoza Trombert YPSA

Francisca Espinoza Trombert is no stranger to this high level of representation, having founded regional sections of the Youth Parliament Swiss Abroad in Chile, where she lives, and in Argentina. She also helped set up YPSA Venezuela.

The Chilean-Swiss recalls that a few years ago only she and another South American woman stood for election. She is now proud to note the strong presence of young people from South America. “I therefore invite young people from other continents to encourage people from their countries to create a local YPSA, so that our community can grow!”

Francisca Espinoza Trombert did not stand for re-election. She plans to get involved in the youth parliament again in the next term (2026-2028).

Role of YPSA

The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) points out that YPSA was created at the August 2015 Congress of the Swiss Abroad in Geneva. “It is not a parliament in the conventional sense, but a platform for committed and active young people who represent the interests of the youth in their clubs or countries of residence,” according to a statementExternal link on the Swiss Community website.

According to its statutes, YPSA is an association that promotes the interests of young Swiss people abroad. Its aim is to support their political education and encourage their participation in political processes and social life. It is not affiliated to any political party.

The committee is made up of one guaranteed seat for each committee member resident in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. An additional seat is guaranteed for a committee member resident in Switzerland. If no candidates from a given region or from Switzerland stand for election, the seat in question is no longer guaranteed and is made available to other candidates.

Anyone who is a member of the YPSA community on FacebookExternal link, between the ages of 15 and 35, and who lives abroad or has lived abroad for at least ten years may vote. Mandates last for two consecutive years and there is no limit to the number of mandates.

Translated from French by DeepL/ts