Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, finance minister, will be president for 2012
Alain Berset, Socialist, replaces Calmy-Rey
Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss president, says her farewells to parliament 14 December
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Alain Berset, the Swiss senate’s youngest member at age 31, was elected easily with 126 votes in a second round of voting, to Switzerland’s government.
The election of the Socialist from Fribourg completes the election of the 7-member government. He replaces Micheline Calmy-Rey, also a Socialist.
The two UDC candidates who were presented for several of the seven slots, failed to come close to majorities.
The party’s weak showing, on the heels of its parliamentary losses in October, reinforces the sense there is a parliamentary shift towards the centre.
The government now comprises one right-wing party member, three from the centre-right, one centre and two left.
New government member Alain Berset, Socialist, replaces Micheline Calmy-Rey, who is retiring (©2011 Reuters/Keystone/pool)
Berset is the only new member, with the others re-elected.
Parliament elects a chancellor, president and vice-president following the election of the government; chancellor Corina Casanova remains in her post with 186 votes out of 206.
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, finance minister, was elected president for 2012, with 174 votes out of 211 for the one-year post that rotates among Federal Council members.
Those watching US-Swiss talks over US investigations into Swiss banks will be relieved, for the lack of a change at the top in Switzerland will smooth the way for the discussions to be concluded. Widmer-Schlumpf has said recently, in her role as finance minister, that she is keen to see a solution found quickly.
The Swiss government’s seven members and their parties, in order of Wednesday’s voting:
Doris Leuthard, PDC (Christian Democrat), centre
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf , PBD, centre right
Ueli Maurer, UDC (People’s Party), right
Didier Burkhalter, PBD, centre right
Simonetta Somaruga, PS (Socialist), left
Johann Schneider-Ammann, PLR, centre right
Alain Berset, PS (Socialist) , left
Swiss parliament voting for new federal council 14 December 2011 (©2011 Reuters/Keystone/pool)
The next complete re-election is in December 2015.
Useful links:
Wikipedia on Swiss political parties and their positions
Analysis of the Federal Council election in English, swissinfo
Details of the votes, Swiss Parliament (Fr)
Background on Swiss political system from ch.ch
Simonetta Sommaruga and Johann Schneider-Ammann elected to the Swiss Federal Council
Simonetta Sommaruga, new Swiss federal councillor
Simone Sommaruga, Socialist rose in hand, accepts congratulations in Swiss Federal Assembly
Complete coverage, Swiss Federal Council 2010 elections: background, Sommaruga win, Schneider-Ammann win
Update 3 12:52 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council, or cabinet, will have a majority of women, with the election of Socialist Simonetta Sommaruga as the fourth of seven councillors.
She replaces Moritz Leuenberger, also a Socialist.
Sommaruga, from canton Bern, received 159 votes in a fourth round of voting. A candidate must have an absolute majority, 121 votes, to win the seat.
She defeated Jean-Françoise Rime, the only right-wing UDC candidate for the two open seats on the council, who received 81 votes.
Italian speakers lose their candidate
Pleading for Italian-speaking Swiss
The second and third rounds of voting for the second seat on the council began with most candidates receiving similar votes, prompting a second round of votes, but canton Ticino’s candidate, who received only 12 votes, bowed out after making a plea for the Swiss government to end the marginalization of Italian-speakers.
Background, Swiss Federal Council elections, GenevaLunch
Moritz Leuenberger, Switzerland's Socialist minister for the environment, energy, transport, resigns
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Moritz Leuenberger, Socialist Party member who has been one of Switzerland’s seven federal councillors for the past 15 years, announced Friday morning that he will step down at the end of 2010. Leuenberger, 63, from Zurich, has headed one department, the Detec (environment, transport and energy) during his tenure and his left-leaning views have had a significant impact on the country’s approach to climate change.
He insisted in a press conference that journalists should not seek to find tactical reasons, that after 15 years as part of the government, he feels the time has come to leave. Leuenberger was scheduled to be the next president, taking up the post that rotates among the federal councillors in January 2011. Micheline Calmy-Rey, also a Socialist, from Geneva, will now become president in 2011, for the second time.
Doris Leuthard, Swiss president in 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Doris Leuthard becomes president of Switzerland in 2010. The 46-year-old PDC (Christian Democrat) member was elected comfortably (153 of 187 votes) by parliament for the top job, a one-year post that is rotated among the seven cabinet members, the Swiss Federal Council. She is the only member of the council not to have yet held the post. She was in line for the job, as vice-president in 2009, but nevertheless needed the approval of the Federal Assembly, parliament’s two houses. Leuthard becomes the youngest president since 1934.
Leuthard is the third woman to serve as president of Switzerland: Ruth Dreifuss was the first, in 1999 and Micheline Calmy-Rey the second, in 2007.
