- List of members of the Swiss Federal Council by date
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For a chronological list of Councillors serving together, see List of members of the Swiss Federal Council.
The Swiss Federal Council and the Federal Chancellor as of February 2008. From left to right: Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Moritz Leuenberger, Micheline Calmy-Rey, Pascal Couchepin, Samuel Schmid, Doris Leuthard, Hans-Rudolf Merz, Federal Chancellor Corina Casanova.
This is a list of members of the Swiss Federal Council (German: Schweizerischer Bundesrat, French: Conseil fédéral suisse, Italian: Consiglio federale svizzero, Romansh: Cussegl federal svizzer), in chronological order and for any given year since inauguration of the federal council, from 1848 to present. The Council's seven members constitute the federal government of Switzerland and serve as the country's head of state. Each of the seven Councillors heads a department of the Swiss federal administration.[1]
The members of the Federal Council are elected for a term of four years by both chambers of the federal parliament sitting together as the Federal Assembly. Each Councillor is elected individually by secret ballot by an absolute majority of votes. A person elected to the Council by the Federal Assembly is considered a Federal Councillor even if he or she declines the election.[2] Accordingly, the five persons who did so and never assumed office are listed in a separate table below. For the same reason, the principal table only records the date of election, and not the date on which the Councillors assumed their office.
Once elected for a four-year-term, Federal Councillors can neither be voted out of office by a motion of no confidence nor can they be impeached. Re-election is possible for an indefinite number of terms. Parliament has decided not to re-elect a sitting Councillor only four times, and only twice (in 2003 and 2007) since the beginning of the 20th century. In practice, therefore, Councillors serve until they decide to resign and retire to private life, usually after three to five terms of office.[3]
Chronological, global
Decade First day in office[4] Federal councilors 1848 16 November 1848 Ulrich Ochsenbein[5] Jonas Furrer Josef Munzinger Henri Druey Friedrich Frey-Herosé Wilhelm Matthias Naeff Stefano Franscini 1850s 31 December 1854 Jakob Stämpfli 11 July 1855[6] Constant Fornerod 14 July 1855 Melchior Josef Martin Knüsel 30 July 1857 Giovanni Battista Pioda 1860s 30 July 1861 Jakob Dubs 31 December 1863 Karl Schenk 12 July 1864 Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel[5] 31 December 1866 Emil Welti 31 October 1867 Victor Ruffy 1870s 1 February 1870 Paul Cérésole 28 May 1872 Johann Jakob Scherer 31 December 1872 Eugène Borel 31 December 1875[6][7] Joachim Heer Numa Droz Fridolin Anderwert Bernhard Hammer 31 December 1878[7] Simeon Bavier 1880s 3 March 1881[6] Louis Ruchonnet 10 April 1883 Adolf Deucher 13 December 1888 Wilhelm Friedrich Hertenstein 1890s 31 December 1890 Emil Frey 31 December 1891 Josef Zemp 31 December 1892 Adrien Lachenal 14 December 1893 Eugène Ruffy 16 August 1895 Eduard Müller Walter Hauser 31 March 1897 Ernst Brenner 14 December 1899 Marc-Emile Ruchet 1900s 31 December 1899 Robert Comtesse 11 December 1902 Ludwig Forrer 17 June 1908 Josef Anton Schobinger 1910s 4 April 1911 Arthur Hoffmann 14 December 1911 Giuseppe Motta 12 March 1912 Louis Perrier 17 July 1912 Edmund Schulthess Camille Decoppet 12 June 1913 Felix-Louis Calonder 26 June 1917 Gustave Ador 31 December 1917 Robert Haab 11 December 1919 Karl Scheurer 31 December 1919 Ernest Chuard Jean-Marie Musy 1920s 12 February 1920 Heinrich Häberlin 31 December 1928 Marcel Pilet-Golaz 12 December 1929 Rudolf Minger Albert Meyer 1930s 30 April 1934 Johannes Baumann Philipp Etter 15 April 1935 Hermann Obrecht 31 December 1938 Ernst Wetter 1940s 22 February 1940 Enrico Celio 31 July 1940 10 December 1940 Eduard von Steiger Walther Stampfli 31 December 1940 Karl Kobelt 31 December 1943 Ernst Nobs 31 December 1944 Max Petitpierre 31 December 1947 Rodolphe Rubattel 1950s 15 October 1950 Josef Escher 13 December 1951 Markus Feldmann 31 December 1951 Max Weber 9 December 1954 Thomas Holenstein 31 December 1954 Hans Streuli Paul Chaudet Giuseppe Lepori 11 December 1958 Friedrich Traugott Wahlen 1960s 31 December 1959[8] Willy Spühler Hans-Peter Tschudi Ludwig von Moos Jean Bourgknecht 30 June 1961 Hans Schaffner 30 September 1962 Roger Bonvin 31 December 1965 Rudolf Gnägi 31 December 1966 Nello Celio 1970s 31 December 1969 Ernst Brugger 31 January 1970 Pierre Graber 31 December 1971 Kurt Furgler 1 December 1973 Willi Ritschard 31 December 1973 Georges-André Chevallaz Hans Hürlimann 31 January 1978 Pierre Aubert Fritz Honegger 1980s 31 December 1979 Leon Schlumpf 31 December 1982 Rudolf Friedrich Alphons Egli 7 December 1983 Otto Stich 31 December 1983 Jean-Pascal Delamuraz 20 October 1984 Elisabeth Kopp 31 December 1986 Arnold Koller Flavio Cotti 31 December 1987 Adolf Ogi René Felber 12 January 1989 Kaspar Villiger 1990s 31 December 1989 31 March 1993[6] Ruth Dreifuss 31 October 1995 Moritz Leuenberger 30 March 1998 Pascal Couchepin 30 April 1999 Ruth Metzler[5] Joseph Deiss 2000s 31 December 2000 Samuel Schmid 31 December 2002 Micheline Calmy-Rey 31 December 2003[9] Christoph Blocher[5] Hans-Rudolf Merz 31 July 2006 Doris Leuthard 31 December 2007 Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf 31 December 2008 Ueli Maurer 31 October 2009 Didier Burkhalter 18 November 2011 Notes
- ^ Swiss Federal Constitution / Bundesverfassung (BV) / Constitution fédérale (Cst.) / Costituzione federale (Cost.) of 7 February 1999, SR/RS 101 (E·D·F·I), art. 177 (E·D·F·I)
- ^ This is the prevailing reading of the relevant constitutional provision: Swiss Federal Constitution / Bundesverfassung (BV) / Constitution fédérale (Cst.) / Costituzione federale (Cost.) of 7 February 1999, SR/RS 101 (E·D·F·I), art. 175 (E·D·F·I)
- ^ Federal Council in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ Members are elected by federal parliament for a four year term and traditionally re-elected. If the predecessor died in office, date of election, otherwise – if available – first day in office.
- ^ a b c d Not reelected (Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Ulrich Ochsenbein, Ruth Metzler, Christoph Blocher)
- ^ a b c d The office was previously declined by the first person elected:
- 11 July 1855 Johann Jakob Stehlin (1803–1879) BS;
- 18 December 1875 Charles Estoppey (1820–1888) VD;
- 10 December 1875 Louis Ruchonnet (1834–1893) VD, accepted later;
- 22 February 1881 Karl Hoffmann (1820–1895) SG;
- 3 March 1993 Francis Matthey (1942–) NE.
- ^ a b Exceptionally low representation of the French and Italian speaking cantons, compared to the German speaking ones (1:6). In recent years, those were overrepresented 3:4 (proportional to their population). Currently, the 2:5 proportion is close to the population proportion.
- ^ Traditional "magic formula" of the Council's composition established: FDP/PRD 2, CVP/PDC 2, SPS/PSS 2, SVP/UDC 1.
- ^ Government composition changed for the first time since 1959: FDP/PRD 2, SPS/PSS 2, SVP/UDC 2, CVP/PDC 1.
References
- Federal Council in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- Swiss Federal Chancellery. "The Swiss Confederation: A brief guide 2007". http://www.bk.admin.ch/dokumentation/02070/index.html?lang=en. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
- Services of the Swiss Parliament. "Resultate der Wahlen des Bundesrats, der Bundeskanzler und des Generals" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2008-02-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20080227092439/http://www.parlament.ch/SiteCollectionDocuments/wa-br-wahlresultate.pdf. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
- Swiss Federal Chancellery. "Chronological index of Federal Councillors". Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20080102050723/http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/cf/br/index2.html. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
- Swiss Federal Chancellery. "Members of the Federal Council who declined election". Archived from the original on 3 February 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080203142013/http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/cf/br/index3.html. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
- Church, Clive H. (2004). The Politics and Government of Switzerland. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-69277-2.
Swiss Federal Council Current members Micheline Calmy-Rey (Pres. 2011) · Doris Leuthard · Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (VP 2011) · Ueli Maurer · Didier Burkhalter · Simonetta Sommaruga · Johann Schneider-Ammann
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