Since 1848 the Swiss Confederation has been a federal republic of relatively autonomous cantons, some of which have a history of federation that goes back more than 700 years, putting them among the world's oldest surviving republics.
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.
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, or Swiss Socialist Party, is a political party in Switzerland. The SP has had two representatives on the Federal Council since 1960 and received the second-highest number of votes in the 2019 Swiss federal election.
The canton of Zürich is a Swiss canton in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of 1,553,423, it is the most populous canton in the country. Zürich is the de facto capital of the canton, but is not specifically mentioned in the constitution. The official language is German. The local Swiss German dialect, called Züritüütsch, is commonly spoken.
Christoph Wolfram Blocher is a Swiss industrialist and politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he headed the Federal Department of Justice and Police. As an industrialist, he became wealthy as CEO and majority shareholder in the EMS-Chemie corporation, now run by his daughter, Magdalena Martullo-Blocher.
The Green Party of Switzerland is a green political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.
The Swiss People's Party, also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre, is a national-conservative, right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marco Chiesa, it is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 53 members of the National Council and 6 of the Council of States.
The Federal Assembly, also known as the Swiss parliament, is Switzerland's federal legislature. It meets in Bern in the Federal Palace.
The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy was a loose confederation of independent small states, initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland.
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007. For the 48th legislative term of the federal parliament (2007–2011), voters in 26 cantons elected all 200 members of the National Council as well as 43 out of 46 members of the Council of States. The other three members of the Council of States for that term of service were elected at an earlier date.
The Green Liberal Party of Switzerland, Italian: Partito verde liberale, PVL), abbreviated to GLP, is a green-liberal political party in Switzerland. Founded in 2007, the party holds sixteen seats in the Federal Assembly as of the October 2019 election.
The Alliance of Independents, Ring of Independents, or National Ring of Independents, was a social liberal political party in Switzerland that existed between 1936 and 1999.
The Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland was a conservative political party in Switzerland from 2008 to 2020. After the 2019 federal election, the BDP had three members in the National Council.
Karin Keller-Sutter is a Swiss politician who has served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2019. A member of FDP.The Liberals, she is the head of the Federal Department of Finance. Keller-Sutter previously served as President of the Council of States for the 2017–2018 term.
The Alternative Left or The Left, is a political party of the left in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland that existed at the national level from 2010 to 2018. This party sought to unite the political forces and movements farther to the left on Switzerland's political spectrum than the centre-left Social Democratic Party and the Green Party.
Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections after a referendum in February 1971. The first federal vote in which women were able to participate was the 31 October 1971 election of the Federal Assembly. However it was not until a 1990 decision by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland that women gained full voting rights in the final Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden.
Ursula Koch is a former Swiss politician, and was the first woman president of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP).
Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 20 October 2019 to elect all members of both houses of the Federal Assembly. This was followed by the 2019 election to the Swiss Federal Council, the federal executive, by the United Federal Assembly.
Mattea Julia Meyer is a Swiss politician, a member of the Swiss National Council and co-president of the Swiss Social Democratic Party.
Peter Bodenmann is a Swiss lawyer, entrepreneur and former member of the National Council for the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP). He was the president of the SP between 1990 and 1997.
