Brienzwiler council resigns en masse after months of attacks, election set for 9 December

Resignation announced

The seven-member municipal council of Brienzwiler, a village of about 530 residents in the Bernese Oberland, resigned with immediate effect, according to a statement issued on Monday, 2 November. The council said the dispute between parts of the population and the municipality had escalated over a long period and placed considerable personal strain on council members, staff and their families. It also said the conflict was weakening village cohesion and the willingness of residents to take on public office. In its statement the council wrote:

“The municipal council is dismayed at how sharply the dispute between individual residents of Brienzwiler and the municipality has escalated.”

The regional prefect's office has been informed so that it can install a special administration under cantonal law. That administration is to run municipal affairs until the assembly elects a new executive on 9 December.

Attacks and a petition

The council said several of its members were repeatedly attacked and called on to resign, naming municipal president Adrian Schild and municipal secretary Thomas Riesen. Riesen has since handed in his notice. A group called Pro Brienzwiler had petitioned for the resignation of individual officials. Christian Schranz, a member of the group, told Blick that it had demanded the departure of three council members, including Schild, and not of the entire executive. Summing up the situation, the council wrote:

“The constant attacks by a part of the population have brought the matter to a head.”

The council rejects blanket attacks that attribute long-standing backlogs to the current members. It says it documented the need for review in a situation report sent to all households in September. That report listed open items in fee administration, administrative software, electricity supply, construction and municipal organisation.

Finances and administration

The council maintains that finances were not the reason for its resignation. Reports give the 2025 surplus as between roughly 197,500 and just under 198,000 francs, so the figure is best read as a range. The council admitted that its communication could have been earlier, more understandable and more regular, but said there is no financial emergency. The 2026 budget was first rejected at the assembly over unresolved items, then approved unchanged in May. Pro Brienzwiler points to higher administrative costs after the switch to an external finance administration, slow processing of building permits and the introduction of Tempo 30 speed limits as sources of friction.

Election and next steps

A new seven-member executive is due to be elected at the assembly on 9 December. Members of Pro Brienzwiler could stand as candidates in that vote, the group has said, because it now wants to take on responsibility itself. The timeline below shows the sequence of steps reported so far.