Switzerland is a semi-direct democratic federal republic. Since 2011 the leading parties are from the right wing. The federal legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Federal Assembly:the National Council and the Council of States. The Federal Council holds the executive power and is composed of seven power-sharing Federal Councillors elected by the Federal Assembly. The judicial branch is headed by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland,whose judges are elected by the Federal Assembly.
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 seven-member executive council that constitutes the executive branch of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. It meets in the west wing of the Federal Palace in Bern.
Ruth Metzler is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1999 to 2003. A member of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC),she headed the Federal Department of Justice and Police.
The National Council is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland,the upper house being the Council of States. With 200 seats,the National Council is the larger of the two houses.
The Council of States is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland,with the National Council being the lower house. It comprises 46 members.
Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zürich in northern Switzerland. With over 110,000 residents it is the country's sixth-largest city by population,and is the ninth-largest agglomeration with about 140,000 inhabitants. Located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Zürich,Winterthur is a service and high-tech industrial satellite city within Greater Zürich.
The Federal Assembly,also known as the Swiss parliament,is Switzerland's federal legislature. It meets in Bern in the Federal Palace.
Annemarie Huber-Hotz was a Swiss politician who served as the Federal Chancellor of Switzerland between 2000 and 2007. She was nominated by the FDP for the office,and elected to it on 15 December 1999. In 2011,she became President of the Swiss Red Cross and ex officio vice-president of the IFRC.
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.
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.
On December 12,2007,all seven members of the Federal Council,the government of Switzerland,were elected by the joint chambers of the Federal Assembly for the 2008–2012 term of office. Councillors are elected individually by an absolute majority of votes,with the incumbent councillors defending their seats in descending order of seniority.
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 has since then been a member of the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD). 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.
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.
Thomas Helbling is a Swiss lawyer. He held the office of Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland between 2008 and 2016,in charge of the Federal Council sector. After leaving office,he became the CEO of the Swiss Insurance Association (2017-2021).
Walter Thurnherr is a Swiss government official who has served as Chancellor of Switzerland since 2016. 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.
The Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland was initially named Federal Secretary (Bundesschreiber). The title of the Vice-Chancellor was established in 1851,first as Federal Chancellor Deputy,then formally as Vice-Chancellor in 1881. In order to provide a balance between languages and geographical representation,it became custom since 1895 to name a second Vice-Chancellor from a French-speaking canton if both the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor were Swiss-German. The second Vice-Chancellor became a permanent position in 1967.
