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Election posters near the Swiss Parliament in Berne, 20 October 2019. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

The polls were not wrong: with 12.7% of the votes, environmentalists come out winners of the renewal of the Swiss Parliament this 20 October. Weakened, the nationalist right remains at the top of a poll where the environmental issue has monopolized the debates.

With our correspondent in Geneva, Jérémie Lanche

According to the first results of the vote of October 20 , the Greens become the fourth political force in Switzerland before the Christian Democrats. Not enough to upset the political chessboard but the symbol is strong.

Several outgoing MPs of the UDC [Democratic Union of the Center], the nationalist and populist right, have lost their seats in Parliament against green candidates. The Liberal Greens, on the right, are also enjoying historic success. Socialists are hesitating between the joy of seeing Parliament swing to the left and the disappointment of having to give up some of their seats to green candidates.

Upheaval in the government?

There remains one unknown: the composition of the Swiss government. It will only be known in December but has hardly moved for decades: two UDC ministers, two socialists, two radical liberals and a Christian Democrat.

The Greens could ask to review the magic formula guaranteeing the stability of the Swiss executive. The vice-president of the radical liberals, Andrea Caroni, has already declared that he will oppose the entry of ecologists into the government.

► To read also: Federal elections: towards a more ecological Switzerland and more left?