The government of Switzerland is a federal state with direct democracy.
The Federal Chancellor is the head of the Federal Chancellery of Switzerland,the oldest Swiss federal institution,established at the initiative of Napoleon in 1803. The officeholder acts as the general staff of the seven-member Federal Council. The Chancellor is not a member of the government and the office is not at all comparable to that of the Chancellor of Germany or the Chancellor of Austria.
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 Green Liberal Party of Switzerland,Italian:Partito verde liberale,PVL),abbreviated to GLP,is a centrist green-liberal political party in Switzerland. Founded in 2007,the party holds eleven seats in the Federal Assembly as of the October 2023 election.
The federal administration of Switzerland is the ensemble of agencies that constitute,together with the Swiss Federal Council,the executive branch of the Swiss federal authorities. The administration is charged with executing federal law and preparing draft laws and policy for the Federal Council and the Federal Assembly.
The Federal Chancellery of Switzerland is a department-level agency of the federal administration of Switzerland. It is the staff organisation of the federal government,the Federal Council. Since 2016,it has been headed by Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland.
Achille Casanova was a Swiss journalist and politician. He held the office of Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland between 1981 and 2005,and during this time became the first official spokesman for the Swiss Federal Council when that role was created on 1 September 2000.
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,and has served as vice president of Switzerland for the 2024 term since 1 January.
Robert Käslin was a jurist and Swiss politician for the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland.
George Bovet was a Swiss Politician from the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (FDP).
Oskar Leimgruber was a Swiss Politician from the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP).
Walter Buser was a Swiss politician from the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SDP).
François Couchepin was a Swiss lawyer and politician who served as Chancellor of Switzerland from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the now-defunct Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (FDP/PRD).
Walter Thurnherr is a Swiss government official who served as Chancellor of Switzerland from 2016 to 2023. Although he holds a traditionally nonpartisan office,he was elected as a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC). When it merged with the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD) to form The Centre (DM/LC) in 2021,Thurnherr joined the new party.
Jörg De Bernardi is a Swiss diplomat and politician. He held the office of Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland between August 2016 and December 2018,in charge of the Federal Council's affairs.
Viola Patricia Amherd is a Swiss politician who has served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2019,and as President of the Swiss Confederation for 2024 since 1 January. She is the head of the Federal Department of Defence,Civil Protection and Sport. Amherd was a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC) before it merged with the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD) to form The Centre (DM/LC) in 2021,which she joined.
Hanna Muralt Müller is a Swiss politician,member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland. She held the office of Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland between 1991 and 2005,in charge of the Federal Council sector,which organizes and documents the council's activities. Initially working as a school teacher,she obtained a degree in history at the University of Bern in 1976. In 1978,she worked as a scientific adviser to a parliamentary commission in the canton Bern,before joining the Federal administration in 1983. She first worked for the federal office of education and science,and joined the Chancellery in 1987,leading the Chancellor's general secretariat since February 1988.
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.
Gerhard Andrey is a Swiss entrepreneur and politician who currently serves as a member of the Swiss National Council for the canton of Fribourg. A member of the Green Party of Switzerland Andrey was the Green Party's candidate for Federal Council in the 2023 Federal Council election to unseat incumbent FDP federal councillors,which did not succeed.
