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,also called the 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 2023 Swiss federal election.
Micheline Anne-Marie Calmy-Rey is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS),she was the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs during her tenure as a Federal Councillor. She was President of the Swiss Confederation twice,in 2007 and 2011.
The Council of States is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland,and the lower house being the National Council. It comprises 46 members.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Switzerland since 1 July 2022. Legislation to open marriage to same-sex couples passed the Swiss Parliament in December 2020. The law was challenged in a referendum on 26 September 2021 by opponents of same-sex marriage and was approved with the support of 64% of voters and a majority in all 26 cantons. The law went into force on 1 July 2022. A provision of the law permitting same-sex marriages performed abroad to be recognised in Switzerland took effect on 1 January 2022. Switzerland was the seventeenth country in Europe and the 30th in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry.
Alain Berset is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2012 to 2023. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS),he headed the Federal Department of Home Affairs from when he took office. Berset served as President of the Swiss Confederation for 2018 and 2023.
Doris Leuthard is a Swiss politician and lawyer who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2006 to 2018. A member of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC),she was elected as President of the Swiss Confederation for 2010 and 2017. Leuthard headed the Federal Department of Economic Affairs until 2010,when she became head of the Federal Department of Environment,Transport,Energy and Communications. As of 19 December 2019 she is a member of the board of the Kofi Annan Foundation and Stadler Rail.
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf is a Swiss politician and lawyer who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2008 to 2015. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) until 2008,she was then a member of the splinter Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD) until 2021,when that party merged into The Centre. Widmer-Schlumpf was the head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police from 2008 to 2010,when she became head of the Federal Department of Finance. She served as President of the Swiss Confederation in 2012.
Tilo Frey ) was a Swiss politician. She was one of the first twelve women elected to the National Council in 1971 and was the first person of African descent elected to the National Council. Prior to her service at the federal level,she was a member of the municipal council of Neuchâtel and the Grand Council of Neuchâtel.
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.
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.
Marina Carobbio Guscetti is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP/PS) of which she has been the vice-chairwoman since 1 March 2008. She was the president of the National Council in 2018–2019 and became a Councillor of States in December 2019.
Samira Marti is a politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland. She became a National Councillor in December 2018.
Irène Kälin is a Swiss politician of the Green Party.
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.
The following events occurred in Switzerland in the year 2023.
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.
