The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since after World War II,the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand coalition government composed of representatives of the country's major parties and language regions.
A by-election to the Swiss Federal Council was held in Switzerland on 16 September 2009,after incumbent Federal Councillor Pascal Couchepin announced his intention to retire on 31 October 2009.
Two by-elections to the Swiss Federal Council were held in Switzerland on 22 September 2010,after federal councillors Moritz Leuenberger (SP) and Hans-Rudolf Merz announced they would step down from the Federal Council towards the end of the year. The by-elections resulted in the elections of Simonetta Sommaruga from the SP and Johann Schneider-Ammann from the FDP,resulting in no change in the partisan composition of the council. It also resulted in the first majority of women on the Federal Council in its history,with Sommaruga joining Micheline Calmy-Rey,Doris Leuthard and Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf.
Simonetta Myriam Sommaruga is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2010 to 2022. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS),she was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2015 and 2020.
An election for all seven members of the Federal Council,the government of Switzerland,was held on 14 December 2011,following the federal election on 23 October 2011. Micheline Calmy-Rey announced she would not run for re-election to the council. According to a traditional informal convention,the successor has to come from the French-speaking or Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. The candidates for her post announced by their respective cantonal sections are Alain Berset (Fribourg),Pierre-Yves Maillard (Vaud),Stéphane Rossini (Valais),and Marina Carobbio (Ticino).
Kurds in Switzerland are residents in Switzerland of full or partial Kurds origin. The Kurds in Switzerland mainly reside in the Cantons of Zurich,Aargau and Basel-Stadt and are descendants of migrants of refugees from the regions around Pazarcık,Kahraranmaraşor Erzincan. There are also shia kurdish migrants from Iranian Kurdistan,the region around Ilam and Kermanshah along with Feyli Kurds from Baghdad who mainly reside Geneva and Zürich
Events from 2012 in Switzerland.
Sibel Arslan is a Turkish-born Swiss lawyer and politician who currently serves on the National Council (Switzerland) for the movement BastA!. There she concurrently also is a representative to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2020. She previously served on the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt between 2005 and 2016.
Albert Rösti is a Swiss businessman,lobbyist and politician who has been a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 1 January 2023. He previously presided over the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) from 2016 to 2020 and served as a member of the National Council for the canton of Bern from 2011 until 2022. Rösti resides in Uetendorf near Thun.
Mustafa Atici is a Turkish-born Swiss businessman and politician who currently serves as member of the Executive Council of Basel-Stadt since 2024 for the Social Democratic Party. He previously served on the National Council (Switzerland) from 2019 to 2023 and on the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt from 2005 to 2019.
Beat Jans is a Swiss environmental scientist and politician who currently serves as a member of the Federal Council,after being elected in 2023 to succeed Alain Berset,assuming office on 1 January 2024. A member of the Social Democratic Party,he previously served on the National Council from 2010 to 2020,and president of the Executive Council of Basel-Stadt from 2021 to 2023.
Mattea Julia Meyer is a Swiss politician who currently serves as member of the National Council (Switzerland) for the Social Democratic Party since 2015. Concurrently she co-chairs the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland together with Cédric Wermuth. Previously,Meyer served on the Cantonal Council of Zürich from 2011 to 2015.
Carlo Sommaruga is a Swiss lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP). He has been a National Councilor for over a decade and since 2019 he is a member of the Council of States.
Flavia Wasserfallen is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party (SP) and a member of the Swiss National Council.
Anita Fetz is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP) and a former member of the National Council and the Council of States in Switzerland.
Élisabeth Baume-Schneider is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP) and a current member of the Federal Council. She was elected on 7 December 2022,the first ever elected member from the Canton of Jura.
In the 1967 Basel Picasso paintings purchase referendum,the people of Basel,Switzerland,voted for the purchase of two paintings by Pablo Picasso,Les deux frères (1906) and Arlequin assis (1923). The referendum took place on 17 December 1967,and the "yes" campaign was supported by the youth of Basel and the local football club FC Basel,among others. Picasso was astonished by the fact that people would vote in favor to buy his art in a majority vote,and invited Franz Meyer,the director of the Kunstmuseum Basel,to see him at his atelier in Mougins,where he presented the "Youth of Basel" with four more of his works.
Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter is a Swiss jurist and politician of The Centre.
By-elections to the Swiss Federal Council were held on 7 December 2022,after federal councillors Ueli Maurer (SVP-ZH) and Simonetta Sommaruga (SP-BE) announced they would leave the Council effective 31 December of the same year. The parliament elected Albert Rösti and Élisabeth Baume-Schneider respectively to replace them.
An election for all seven members of the Federal Council,Switzerland's government,were held on 13 December 2023 for the 2024–2028 term. It followed the federal election held a month earlier and partly depended on its results.
