Lausanne is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French-speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lac Léman,about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps,and facing the French town of Évian-les-Bains across the lake. Lausanne is located 62 kilometres northeast of Geneva,the nearest major city.
Vaud,more formally the Canton of Vaud,is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts;its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms bears the motto "Libertéet patrie" on a white-green bicolour.
Renens is a municipality in the canton of Vaud,Switzerland. It is located in the district of Ouest Lausannois,and is a suburb of the city of Lausanne. It is the fourth largest city in the canton. It is considered a very multiethnic town,as more than 50% of the inhabitants are resident foreign nationals from about a hundred different countries.
The Swiss Party of Labour is a communist party in Switzerland.
Chillon Castle is an island medieval castle located on Lake Geneva,south of Veytaux in the canton of Vaud. It is situated at the eastern end of the lake,on the narrow shore between Montreux and Villeneuve,which gives access to the Alpine valley of the Rhône. Chillon is amongst the most visited medieval castles in Switzerland and Europe. Successively occupied by the House of Savoy,then by the Bernese from 1536 until 1798,it now belongs to the canton de Vaud and is classified as a Swiss Cultural Property of National Significance.
Solidarity is a socialist and Trotskyist political party,present in the French-speaking part of Switzerland,in the cantons of Geneva,Vaud,Neuchâtel and Fribourg. The party is a member of the European Anti-Capitalist Left. It was the furthest left party represented in the National Council until losing their only seat in 2023.
Josef Zisyadis is a Swiss politician,a member of the Swiss Party of Labour,and of the Alternative Left . Born to Greek parents in Istanbul,and after a sojourn in Athens (1958–1962),he moved to Switzerland with his family in 1962,aged seven,and was later naturalized as citizen of Lausanne. He studied theology in Lausanne,graduating in 1979. During 1979-1983 he worked as pastor in the Mission populaire évangélique in Paris,returning to Lausanne in 1983,where he joined the Parti Ouvrier Populaire of Vaud. During 1994–1996,he acted as secretary of the Party of Labour.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) rights in Switzerland are some of the most progressive by world standards. Social attitudes and the legal situation have liberalised at an increasing pace since the 1940s,in parallel to the situation in Europe and the Western world more generally. Legislation providing for same-sex marriage,same-sex adoption,and IVF access was accepted by 64% of voters in a referendum on 26 September 2021,and entered into force on 1 July 2022.
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.
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.
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.
Pierre-Yves Maillard is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party. He was successively a deputy for the canton of Vaud on the National Council,a member of the Council of State of Vaud at the head of the department of health and social action,again national advisor and advisor to the states since the end of 2023.
The Swiss Socialist Federation was a political party in Switzerland.
Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 18 October 2015 for the National Council and the first round of elections to the Council of States,with runoff elections to the Council of States being held in various cantons until 22 November.
Guy Bernard Parmelin is a Swiss Federal Councillor and head of the Department of Economic Affairs,Education and Research. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC),he has been a member of the Federal Council since 2016,and has led the Department of Economic Affairs,Education and Research since 2019. He previously led the Department of Defence,Civil Protection and Sports between 2016 and 2018. He served as president of Switzerland in 2021,having previously served as vice president of Switzerland in 2020.
Isabelle Moret is a Swiss politician who served as President of the National Council from 2019 to 2020. A member of FDP.The Liberals since its foundation in 2009,she first entered the National Council in 2006 as a member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP/PRD). Moret is a resident of Yens-sur-Morges in the canton of Vaud.
Géraldine Savary is a journalist and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP),former member of the National Council and the Council of States and the current director of the Federal Commission of the Swiss postal services,PostCom.
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.
Jacqueline Denise de Quattro is a Swiss-Italian politician,lawyer,and former judoka. As a member of the FDP.The Liberals,she was elected to the Council of State of Vaud in 2007. In 2019,she was elected to a seat in the National Council of Switzerland.
Nuria Gorrite is a Swiss-Spanish politician and museum curator. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland,she was the first woman to be elected President of the Council of State of Vaud.
