Influence by political group

Although two SVP politicians, Councilor of States Hannes Germann and parliamentary group leader Thomas Aeschi, occupy the top positions in the political influence ranking, the data highlights that SVP parliamentarians score lower on average compared with representatives of the other parliamentary groups. There are 22 SVP parliamentary group members among the last 50 places in the political influence ranking.

Seven SP members are among the top 30 most politically influential politicians. The SP is significantly better, if not dominant, when it comes to public influence. Looking back, the SP benefited from a focus on issues that fit well with its party program.

While the FDP has lost a little in political influence, it is at the same time gaining a little in public influence. The bottom line is that the FDP remains middling. In terms of political influence, this mediocrity is expressed by the fact that there are five members of the FDP parliamentary group in both the top 30 and the bottom 30.

Although its lead over the other parties is shrinking, The Center remains the most influential party in Parliament. In the 2024 ranking, it occupies 12 places in the top 30. The Council of States members of the Center Party continue to set the political tone. Unlike in parliamentary affairs, the influence of the Center Party in public discourse appears to be continuing to decline. Although party president Gerhard Pfister won this year’s public influence ranking, this was followed by a yawning void to the next MP Philipp Kutter.

The Green Group lost seats in the 2023 elections, leading to the smaller faction having less clout. However, the average influence of the Green parliamentarians is increasing both in political and public influence. This can be explained by the fact that the Greens are the only party that can rely on incumbents, which has a positive effect on the results. For example, there is no member of the Greens among the bottom 50 in either the political or public ranking.

With the eleven seats, the Green Liberals are the smallest parliamentary group. However, the influence of the party's individual members of parliament should not be underestimated. This is also reflected in this year's Influence Index, where two politicians, National Councilors Martin Bäumle (12th place) and Beat Flach (15th place), made it into the top 20.