If two candidates obtain the same number of votes and there is only one seat available, the seat is decided by drawing lots.
This is stated in the Federal Act on Political Rights, supported by a decision of the Federal Supreme Court (web page available in German, French and Italian).
The draw must comply with several conditions.
It must, in particular:be ordered by the cantonal government,
be organised by a member of the same government present on site or
by a delegation of the same government,be carried out manually,
take place in public. All the parties involved, in particular the candidates and parties involved in the draw, are entitled to attend the draw. It is not authorised, however, to hold an electronic draw.It is not authorised, however, to hold an electronic draw. This is because the electronic version does not ensure equal treatment of candidates.
23,979: This is the number of votes that Monica Duca Widmer, the Ticino-based candidate of the Christian Democratic People’s Party (CVP) for the National Council, obtained in the 2011 elections.
23,979, however, is also the number of votes that Marco Romano, also a Ticino CVP candidate for the National Council, received in the same election.
Who was given the mandate? On the evening of the counting of the votes, an electronic draw determined that Monica Duca Widmer was elected.
A number of citizens appealed the result and the Federal Supreme Court annulled the election results (web page available in German, French and Italian).
On 25 November 2011, the canton of Ticino carried out a manual draw. This led to the election of Marco Romano.
A tie between two candidates running for a seat in the National Council is extremely rare.
With regard to the National Council election, however, there is another case of a draw, albeit for different reasons than in the 2011 case. This draw dates back to the 1939 National Council election. Two candidates from the canton of Basel-Landschaft, Hugo Gschwind (Catholic Conservative Party) and Walter Hilfiker (Swiss Social Democratic Party), obtained the same number of votes. The draw was necessary because, according to the former Constitution of the Canton of Basel, only one member of the cantonal government (Gschwind and Hilfiker were both members) could be elected to the National Council. For the record, the Conservative candidate ended up winning the seat.
The legal basis
Decisions of the Federal Supreme Court
2012 (138) Volume II (pages 13-21) (available in Italian)