Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Back in 1993 someone told then-Swiss President Adolf Ogi that a group photo could do wonders for the popularity of the ruling seven-member Federal Council, Switzerland’s equivalent of a cabinet. And since then the ruling seven plus the chancellor, who oversees the administrative side of the government, have lined up every year for a photo. The 2011 version has a special look: for the first time in Swiss history, there are more women as councillors than men.

The seven members of the council are elected for four years and the one-year job of president rotates among them. Micheline Calmy-Rey, Socialist, is the 2011 president of the Swiss Confederation.

Left to right: Johann Schneider-Ammann, Didier Burkhalter, Doris Leuthard, Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, lEveline Widmer-Schlumpf (vice-president), Ueli Maurer, Simonetta Sommaruga, Chancellor Corina Casanova

Swiss Federal Council (cabinet), 2010

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s cabinet, the seven-member Swiss Federal Council, which governs as a body of equals, has published its official photo for 2010. Left to right: Didier Burkhalter, the chancellor for the Swiss Confederation Corina Casanova, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Ueli Maurer,  Micheline Calmy-Rey, Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss President Doris Leuthard, Vice-president Moritz Leuenberger. The presidency is a one-year rotating position, while the chancellor’s job is to oversee the smooth functioning of the administrative side of the government.

Didier Burkhalter, Neuchatel, new Swiss cabinet member

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Didier Burkhalter, 49, a Radical party (centre-right) politician from Neuchatel, was elected by the Swiss parliament to the country’s seven-member Federal Council  (cabinet) with 129 votes against 106 for the other candidate, Urs Schwaller, PDC (also centre), on the fourth round of voting. He succeeds Pascal Couchepin, from canton Valais, who is retiring 1 November. Burkhalter’s election means his party will retain its seat on the council and the balance remains unchanged in the power-sharing Swiss government. The language balance remains intact as well, with one French-speaking canton representative replaced by another.

Details: Swissinfo and on radio, WRS. Swiss French media: Le Temps, Tribune de Geneve/24 Heures, TSR

Background story, GenevaLunch