Career
After becoming a licensed attorney,she worked for several years in a Lausanne-based law firm. In 2013,she left the bar to concentrate on politics. [7] She has chaired the Swiss Federation of Food Industries (Fial) and the Swiss umbrella association of hospitals (H+). [8] She is also Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Swissgrid,the Swiss transmission system operator. [9] In August 2017,while running for the Federal Council,the press revealed that she earns a gross annual income of 310,000 Swiss francs. [10]
She began her political career in the Swiss Radical Democratic Party (PRD),now the FDP.The Liberals,as a member of the Committee on Domestic Policy in 1997. She was a member of the municipal council in Etoy from 1998 to 2006. In 1998 she also became vice-president of the Young Radicals Switzerland,while being a member of the SME committee and the Economic Commission of the Vaud PRD,of which she became president in 2003.
She was elected to the Grand Council of Vaud in 1999,before becoming a member of the Vaud Constitutional Assembly from 1999 to 2002. She left the Cantonal parliament in 2006,having notably been a member of the Finance Committee from 2002 to 2006. [11]
In December 2006,she was elected to the Swiss Federal Parliament as a member of the National Council. She successfully ran for reelection in 2007,2011 and 2015. In 2015,she received the most votes of all federal candidates in Francophone Switzerland with 65,351 votes. [12] She sat on the Political Institutions Committee (CIP-CN) [13] and the Social Security and Health Committee (CSSS-CN). [14] The core of her activities pertain to issues related to the healthcare and pension systems and issues related to immigration and asylum.
In parallel with her office as member of the National Council,from 2008 to 2016 she was the vice-president of the Swiss Radical Democratic Party,and then of the FDP.The Liberals following the merger with the Swiss Liberal Party. [15]
She ran for the Federal Council in September 2017 in a bid to succeed Didier Burkhalter. In the second round of voting,she came third,with 28 votes. [16]
In December she was elected as the President of the National Council. She is the first woman from Vaud to hold the post. [17]
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.
Vaud, more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms bears the motto "Liberté et patrie" on a white-green bicolour.
The Free Democratic Party or Radical Democratic Party was a liberal political party in Switzerland. Formerly one of the major parties in Switzerland, on 1 January 2009 it merged with the Liberal Party of Switzerland to form FDP.The Liberals.
The Liberal Party of Switzerland was a political party in Switzerland with economically liberal policies. It was known as a party of the upper class. On 1 January 2009 it merged with the larger Free Democratic Party (FDP/PRD) to establish FDP.The Liberals.
Fulvio Pelli is a Swiss politician. He was the last president of the Free Democratic Party prior to its merger with the Liberal Party of Switzerland. After the merger of the two parties, he served as the first president of FDP.The Liberals from 2009 to 2012. Pelli was a member of the Swiss National Council from 1995 to 2014. He served in the communal legislature of Lugano from 1980 to 1990 and in the Grand Council of Ticino from 1983 to 1995.
FDP.The Liberals is a liberal political party in Switzerland. It is tied for the largest party in the Federal Council, is the third-largest party in the National Council and is the second-largest in the Council of States.
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.
Johann Niklaus Schneider, known as Johann Schneider-Ammann, is a Swiss businessman and politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2010 to 2018. A member of FDP.The Liberals, he was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2016. During his tenure as a Federal Councillor, Schneider-Ammann headed the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research.
Pierre-Yves Maillard is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party. He is a member of the Council of State of Vaud since 2004.
Ignazio Daniele Giovanni Cassis is a Swiss physician and politician who has been a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 1 November 2017. A member of FDP.The Liberals, Cassis was elected to the Federal Council on 20 September 2017 following the resignation of Didier Burkhalter. He has headed the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs since he took office. On 8 December 2021, Cassis was elected President of the Swiss Confederation for 2022.
Gabrielle Nanchen is a Swiss politician and author. In 1971, she became one of the first 10 women elected to the National Council of Switzerland, serving in that body until 1979. She was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland. Since leaving office, she has written books on her personal pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela and Africa.
Claude Ruey is a Swiss politician. He was a member of the National Council from 1999 to 2011. From 2002 to 2008, he was the president of the Liberal Party of Switzerland. During his presidency, the Liberal Party moved towards its merger with the Free Democratic Party to form FDP.The Liberals.
An election for all seven members of the Federal Council, the Government of Switzerland, was held on 11 December 2019, following the federal election on 20 October 2019, for the 2020–2024 term.
Simone de Montmollin is a Swiss politician, businesswoman, and oenologist. She began her career in the medical field, working for the European Society of Cardiology before founding her own medical communications company, Götz & Cie Cardio Diffusion, in 1991. De Montmollin left the medical field to become an oenologist, and served as the director of the Swiss Union of Oenologists, worked as a communications specialist at Agroscope, and served as chairwoman for the 42nd World Congress of Vine and Wine in Geneva. In 2008 she was elected, as an Independent, to the Geneva Constituent Assembly. She later joined FDP.The Liberals and was elected to the Grand Council of Geneva, serving from 2013 to 2018. In her last year on the council, she was the president of the Committee for Environment, Agriculture, and Management. In 2019, de Montmollin was elected to the National Council, where she is a member of the Committee for Science, Education and Culture and the Delegation for Relations with the French Parliament.
A by-election to the Swiss Federal Council was held on 20 September 2017, after federal councillor Didier Burkhalter (FDP-NE) announced he would leave the Council effective 31 October 2017. The by-election resulted in the election of Ignazio Cassis (FDP-TI), resulting in no change in the partisan composition of the council.
By-elections to the Swiss Federal Council were held on 5 December 2018, after federal councillors Johann Schneider-Ammann (FDP-BE) and Doris Leuthard (CVP-AG) announced in September they would leave the Council effective 31 December of the same year.
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.
