In the federal elections of 2019, the incumbent SVP national councilor Manfred Bühler lost his seat in parliament. As a result, the canton’s French-speaking minority, which represents almost ten percent of Bern’s population, was no longer represented in the federal parliament.
This was a rarity, because from 1848 to 2011 the French-speaking part of the canton of Bern was represented continuously in the grand chamber. Eleven years ago, however, SVP national councilor Jean-Pierre Graber was eliminated.
Manfred Bühler was already a member of the National Council for one term between 2015 and 2019 for the SVP. From this year he is also a member of the Grand Council again and was mayor of Cortébert for seven years. The 43-year-old lawyer is bilingual and has been president of the SVP Canton of Bern since 2021.
