Elections in Switzerland

Switzerland

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Background

Switzerland elects on national level a head of state, the Federal Council, and a legislature. The Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung/Assemblée fédérale/Asamblea Federale/Assemblea Federala) has two chambers. The National Council (Nationalrat/Conseil National/Consiglio Nazionale/Cussegl Naziunal) has 200 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies, the cantons.

The Council of States (Ständerat/Conseil des Etats/Consiglio degli Stati/Cussegl dals Stadis) has 46 members, elected for four years in 20 multi-seat and 6 single-seat constituencies which are equal to the 26 cantons and half-cantons. One of the members of the Federal Council assumes the honorific title of President of the Confederation for a one-year term. Switzerland has a multi-party system with numerous parties. A world-unique characteristic of Switzerland is that all the executives, from federal to municipal level, are plural and often include members from all main parties.

Elections to the National Council conclude on the penultimate Sunday of October. In most cantons, the first round of the election for the Council of States is held alongside the National Council election, while runoff stages are held 3 to 6 weeks later. The new Federal Assembly takes office at the start of the following year.

Schedule

Election

Position	2011	2012	2015	2016
Type	Federal Council (October) Federal Assembly (October) Gubernatorial (October)	None	Federal Council (October) Federal Assembly (October) Gubernatorial (October)	None
Federal council	President and Vice President	None	President and Vice President	None
Federal Assembly	All seats	None	All seats	None
Provinces, cities and municipalities	All positions	None	All positions	None

Inauguration

Position	2012	2013	2016	2017
Type	Federal Council (January) Federal Assembly (January) Gubernatorial (January)	Federal Council (January)	Federal Council (January) Federal Assembly (January) Gubernatorial (January)	Federal Council (January)
Federal Council	1 January by turn election
Federal Assembly	1 January	None	1 January	None
Provinces, cities and municipalities	1 January	None	1 January	None

Federal elections

Latest elections

**Summary of the 23 October 2011 National Council of Switzerland election results**
Parties		Abbr.	Alignment	Ideology	Votes^[1]	%	+/– (%)	Seats	%	+/– (seats)
	Swiss People's Party	SVP/UDC	Right-wing	National conservatism	648,675	26.6	−2.3	54	27	−8
	Social Democratic Party	SPS/PSS	Left	Social democracy	457,317	18.7	+0.8	46	23.0	+3
	FDP.The Liberals	FDP/PLR	Right/Right-wing	Classical liberalism	368,951	15.1	−0.7	30	15.0	−1
	Christian Democratic People's Party	CVP/PDC	Centre-right/Centre	Christian democracy	300,544	12.3	−2.2	28	14.0	−3
	Green Party	GPS/PES	Centre-left	Green politics	205,984	8.4	−1.2	15	7.5	−5
	Green Liberal Party	GLP/PVL	Centre	Green liberalism	131,436	5.4	+4.0	12	6.0	+9
	Conservative Democratic Party	BDP/PBD	Right/right-wing	Conservatism / Economic liberalism	132,279	5.4	+5.4	9	4.5	+9
	Evangelical People's Party	EVP/PEV	Centre	Christian democracy	48,789	2.0	−0.4	2	1.0	±0
	Party of Labour	PdA	Left-wing	Socialism	21,482	0.5	−0.2	0	0	−1
	Ticino League	LdT	Far-right	Regionalism / Right-wing populism	19,657	0.8	+0.2	2	1.0	+1
	Christian Social Party	CSP/PCS	Centre-left	Christian left	6,248	0.6	-0.2	1	0.5	±0
	Geneva Citizens' Movement	MCG	Right-wing/Far-right	Regionalism / Right-wing populism	10,714	0.6	+0.6	1	0.5	+1
	Federal Democratic Union	EDU/UDF	Right-wing	Christian right	31,056	1.3	±0	0	0	−1
	Other				54,622	2.2		0	0
Total (turnout 48.5%)					2,442,648	—	—	200	—
Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (French)

**Summary of the 23 October, 13 November, 20 November, 27 November and 4 December 2011 Council of States of Switzerland election results**
Parties		Ideology	2007	Seats	±
	Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC)	Christian democracy	15	13	-2
	FDP.The Liberals (FDP/PRD)	Classical liberalism	12	11	-1
	Social Democratic Party (SPS/PSS)	Social democracy	9	11	+2
	Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC)	National conservatism	7	5	-2
	Green Party (GPS/PES)	Green politics	2	2	±0
	Green Liberal Party (GLP/VL)	Green liberalism	1	2	+1
	Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD)	Conservatism / Economic liberalism	New	1	+1
	Independent	Independent	0	1	+1
Total			46	46
Source: http://www.politik-stat.ch/srw2011CH_de.html

Notes and references

↑ These numbers represent fictional voters. See National Council for more details.

External links

Adam Carr's Election Archive
Parties and elections
NSD: European Election Database - Switzerland publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1991-2007

Elections and referendums in Switzerland

Parliamentary elections	1848 1851 1854 1857 1860 1863 1866 1869 1872 1875 1878 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1896 1899 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015

Referendums	1798 1802 1848 1866 1872 1874 1875 1876 1877 1879 1880 1882 1884 1885 1887 1889 1890 1891 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1900 1902 1903 1905 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1915 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1933 1934 1935 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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