Switzerland is a federal republic, and perhaps the closest state in the world to a direct democracy, as for any change in the constitution, a referendum is mandatory; for any change in a law, a referendum can be requested - in practice, the people has the last word in every change of law some interest group disagrees with.
Table of contents |
2 Legislative branch 3 Judicial branch 4 Political conditions 5 Political parties 6 External links |
The current President of the Confederation is Joseph Deiss and his deputy is Samuel Schmid. The cabinet is the Swiss Federal Council, which is elected by the Federal Assembly from among its own members for a four-year term. Present members beside president and vice-president: Micheline Calmy-Rey, Pascal Couchepin, Christoph Blocher, Hans-Rudolf Merz and Moritz Leuenberger. See also: List of members of the Swiss Federal Council.
The president and vice president elected by the Federal Assembly from among the members of the Federal Council for one-year terms that run concurrently.
The Swiss cabinet is one of the most stable governments worldwide: From 1959 to 2003 the Federal Council was composed of a coalition of all major parties in the same ratio (2 Radical Free Party, 2 Social Democratic, 2 Christian Democratic, 1 Swiss People's Party). Changes in the cabinet occurred in practice only, if one of the members resigned - this member was then replaced by someone from the same party (and preferably also the same language group and sex).
This "magic formula" has also been criticised -- in the 1960s for excluding leftist opposition parties, in the 1980s for excluding the emerging Green party, and after the 1999 election particularly by the rightist
People's Party, which had by then grown from the fourth largest to the largest party. In the elections of 2003 the People's Party (formerly the smallest of the 4 parties represented in the Federal Council) gained a plurality of seats in the National Council and received (effective January 1, 2004) a second seat in the Federal Council, reducing the share of the Christian Democratic party to 1 seat.
Executive branch
Legislative branch
Switzerland has a bicameral parliament, consisting of the
The last elections to the National Council were held in 2003, see elections of 2003 for more details.
Judicial branch
Federal Supreme Court, judges elected for six-year terms by the Federal Assembly
Party |   | Members in | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abbr | Name | W | President | F ¹ | S ² | N ³
|
CVP/PDC | Christian Democratic People's Party | [1] | Philipp Stähelin | 1 | 15 | 28
|
FDP/PRD | Free Democratic Party 4 | [1] | Christiane Langenberger | 2 | 14 | 36
|
SPS/PSS | Social Democratic Party | [1] | Christiane Brunner | 2 | 9 | 52
|
SVP/UDC | Swiss People's Party | [1] | Ueli Maurer | 2 | 8 | 55
|
EVP/PEV | Evangelical People's Party | [1] | Ruedi Aeschbacher | 0 | 0 | 3 |
FPS | Freedom Party | [1] |   | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Greens | Green Party | [1] | Ruth Genner and Patrice Mugny | 0 | 0 | 13 |
LPS/PLS | Liberal Party | [1] | Claude Ruey | 0 | 0 | 4 |
SD/DS | Swiss Democratic Party |   |   | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Lega | Ticino League | [1] |   | 0 | 0 | 1 |
EDU/UDF | Union of Federal Democrats |   |   | 0 | 0 | 2 |
PdA/PST | Workers' Party |   |   | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Abbr | Party | German language name | French | Italian | Romansh
| |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CVP/PDC | Christian Democratic People's Party | Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei der Schweiz or CVP | Parti Démocrate-Chrétien Suisse or PDC | Partito Democratico-Cristiano Popolare Svizzero or PDC | Partida Cristiandemocratica dalla Svizra or PCD
| |
FDP/PRD | Free Democratic Party ¹ | Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei der Schweiz or FDP | Parti radical-démocratique suisse or PRD | Partito Liberal-Radicale Svizzero or PLR |  
| |
SPS/PSS | Social Democratic Party | Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz or SPS | Parti Socialiste Suisse or PSS | Partito Socialista Svizzero or PSS | Partida Socialdemocratica de la Svizra or PSS
| |
SVP/UDC | Swiss People's Party | Schweizerische Volkspartei or SVP | Union Démocratique du Centre or UDC | Unione Democratica del Centro or UDC | Uniun Democratica dal Center or UDC
| |
| ||||||
EVP/PEV | Evangelical People's Party | Evangelische Volkspartei der Schweiz or EVP | Parti Evangelique Suisse or PEV | Partito Evangelico Svizzero or PEV |   | |
FPS | Freedom Party | Freiheits-Partei der Schweiz or FPS |   |   |   | |
Greens | Green Party | Grüne Partei der Schweiz or Grüne | Parti Ecologiste Suisse or Les Verts | Partito Ecologista Svizzero or I Verdi | Partida Ecologica Svizra or La Verda | |
LPS/PLS | Liberal Party | Liberale Partei der Schweiz or LPS | Parti liberal suisse or PLS | Partito Liberale Svizzero or PLS |   | |
SD/DS | Swiss Democratic Party | Schweizer Demokraten or SD | Démocrates Suisses or DS | Democratici Svizzeri or DS |   | |
Lega | Ticino League | n/a | n/a | Lega dei Ticinesi | n/a | |
EDU/UDF | Union of Federal Democrats | Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union or EDU | Union Démocratique Fédérale or UDF | Unione Democratica Federale or UDF |   | |
PdA/PST | Workers' Party | Partei der Arbeit der Schweiz or PdAdS | Parti suisse du travail or PST | Partito Svizzero del Lavoro or PSdL |   |
External links
See also : International relations of Switzerland, Switzerland