In the National Council elections on October 23, 2011, the SVP lost eight of its previous 62 seats. Also FDP. The Liberals and CVP suffered losses. The BDP and GLP both saw an increase in votes. Although the SVP remained the strongest party, it did not succeed in pushing through a second Federal Council in the Federal Council elections on December 14, 2011. An initiative by the SVP to have the Federal Council directly elected in the future failed in a referendum on June 9, 2013. In September 2013, 73.2% of citizens voted against the abolition of compulsory military service in a referendum. A narrow majority of the electorate (50.3%) and 17 of the 26 cantons supported an initiative against mass immigration launched by the SVP on February 9, 2014, which included maximum annual numbers and quotas for immigration as well as priority for Swiss people in the allocation of jobs. In May 2014, in a referendum, an initiative to introduce a statutory minimum wage of CHF 4,000 a month failed. 76.3% of the electorate spoke out against it. The decision of the Swiss National Bank on January 15, 2015 to lift the minimum exchange rate of CHF 1.20 to the euro introduced in September 2011 with immediate effect led to considerable turbulence in the financial markets.
In the National Council elections on October 18, 2015, the right-wing national SVP, which campaigned for a further tightening of the asylum law, was able to expand its leading position. It won 29.4% of the vote and 65 seats (2011: 26.6% and 54 seats). The FDP also emerged stronger from the elections with 16.4% of the votes and 33 seats (2011: 15.1% and 30 seats). The SP, CVP, BDP and Greens lost seats. On December 9, 2015, the Federal Assembly elected SVP politician G. Parmelin tosucceed E. Widmer-Schlumpf, who had announced her resignationin the Federal Council. The composition of the government thus again corresponded to the principle of concordance implemented with the help of the magic formula, according to which the three strongest parties (SVP, SP, FDP) have two federal councilors. The fourth strongest party (CVP) provided a Federal Council. On February 28, 2016, 58.9% of the electorate rejected the automatic expulsion of non-Swiss people who had committed criminal offenses. With the so-called enforcement initiative, the SVP wanted to end the previous case-by-case examination and enable expulsion even in the case of minor offenses in the event of recurrence. A broad alliance of social groups was essential for the rejection. On June 5, 2016, the popular initiative to introduce an unconditional basic income was clearly rejected with 76.9%. In 2016, parliament approved a law to implement the mass immigration initiative implemented by the SVP in 2014 and stipulated that if immigration exceeded a threshold set by the government, residents should be given a certain priority in the labor market. The introduction of maximum numbers and quotas required by the SVP was waived in order not to endanger the bilateral agreements with the EU. On May 21, 2017, a majority of around 58.2% of those entitled to vote voted for a revised Energy Act that prohibits the construction of new nuclear power plants and promotes the expansion of renewable energies.
According to ehealthfacts, the “No Billag Initiative” initiated by the SVP, which aimed to abolish radio and television fees, was rejected on March 4th, 2018 by 71.6% of the voters and all cantons, as was their attempt on November 25th, 2018 To give the Swiss Federal Constitution’s “self-determination initiative” priority over international law (66.3% no, all cantons).
From the National Council elections on October 20, 2019, which were also dominated by the climate debate, the green parties emerged significantly stronger (Greens: 13.2%, Green liberals: 6.2%), while almost all the other parties suffered losses. However, they were unable to win a seat on the Federal Council. Despite a loss of votes, the SVP remained by far the strongest force with 25.2%. An initiative brought in by the Swiss Tenants’ Association, »More affordable apartments«, which was also supported by the SP and which provided for the strengthening of non-profit housing developers, failed in the referendum on 9 February 2020 (57.1% no) and because of the majority.
Swiss Federal Councilors
Federal Councilors 1) | |||
Surname | Federal Council 2) | Political party | Federal President |
G. Motta | 1912-40 | KCVP | 1915, 1920, 1927, 1932, 1937 |
E. Schulthess | 1912-35 | FDP | 1917, 1921, 1928, 1933 |
F. Calonder | 1913-20 | FDP | 1918 |
R. Haab | 1918-29 | FDP | 1922, 1929 |
K. Scheurer | 1920–29 3) | FDP | 1923 |
E. Chuard | 1920-28 | FDP | 1924 |
J.-M. Musy | 1920-34 | KCVP | 1925, 1930 |
H. Häberlin | 1920-34 | FDP | 1926, 1931 |
M. Pilet-Golaz | 1929-44 | FDP | 1934, 1940 |
R. Minger | 1930-40 | BGB | 1935 |
A. Meyer | 1930-38 | FDP | 1936 |
J. Baumann | 1934-40 | FDP | 1938 |
P. Etter | 1934-59 | KCVP | 1939, 1942, 1947, 1953 |
H. Obrecht | 1935-40 | FDP | |
E. Weather | 1939-43 | FDP | 1941 |
E. Celio | 1940-50 | KCVP | 1943, 1948 |
W. Stampfli | 1940-47 | FDP | 1944 |
E. von Steiger | 1941-51 | BGB | 1945, 1951 |
K. Kobelt | 1941-54 | FDP | 1946, 1952 |
E. Nobs | 1944-51 | PLC | 1949 |
M. Petitpierre | 1945-61 | FDP | 1950, 1955, 1960 |
R. Rubattel | 1948-54 | FDP | 1954 |
J. Escher | 1950-54 | KCVP | |
M. Weber | 1952-53 | PLC | |
M. Feldmann | 1952–58 2) | BGB | 1956 |
H. Streuli | 1954-59 | FDP | 1957 |
P. Chaudet | 1955-66 | FDP | 1959, 1962 |
G. Lepori | 1955-59 | KCVP | |
T. Holenstein | 1955-59 | KCVP | 1958 |
FT elections | 1959-65 | BGB | 1961 |
J. Bourgknecht | 1960-62 | KCVP | |
L. von Moos | 1960-71 | KCVP | 1964, 1969 |
W. Spuhler | 1960-70 | PLC | 1963, 1968 |
HP Tschudi | 1960-73 | PLC | 1965, 1970 |
H. Schaffner | 1961-69 | FDP | 1966 |
R. Bonvin | 1962-73 | CVP | 1967, 1973 |
R. Gnägli | 1966-79 | SVP | 1971, 1976 |
N. Celio | 1967-73 | FDP | 1972 |
E. Brugger | 1970-77 | FDP | 1974 |
P. Graber | 1970-77 | PLC | 1975 |
K. Furgler | 1972-86 | CVP | 1977, 1981, 1985 |
G.-A. Chevallaz | 1974-83 | FDP | 1980 |
H. Hürlimann | 1974-82 | CVP | 1979 |
W. Ritschard | 1974–83 3) | PLC | 1978 |
P. Aubert | 1978-87 | PLC | 1983, 1987 |
F. Honegger | 1978-82 | FDP | 1982 |
L. Smurf | 1980-87 | SVP | 1984 |
A. Egli | 1983-86 | CVP | 1986 |
O. stitch | 1984-95 | PLC | 1988, 1994 |
R. Friedrich | 1983-84 | FDP | |
J.-P. Delamuraz | 1984–98 2) | FDP | 1989, 1996 |
E. Kopp | 1984-89 | FDP | |
A. Koller | 1987-99 | CVP | 1990, 1997 |
F. Cotti | 1987-99 | CVP | 1991, 1998 |
R. Felber | 1988-93 | PLC | 1992 |
A. Ogi | 1988-2000 | SVP | 1993, 2000 |
K. Villiger | 1989-2003 | FDP | 1995, 2002 |
R. Dreifuss | 1993-2002 | PLC | 1999 |
M. Leuenberger | 1995-2010 | PLC | 2001, 2006 |
P. Couchepin | 1998-2009 | FDP | 2003, 2008 |
R. Metzler-Arnold | 1999-2003 | CVP | |
J. Deiss | 1999-2006 4) | CVP | 2004 |
S. Schmid | 2001-08 | SVP 6) | 2005 |
M. Calmy-Rey | 2003-11 | PLC | 2007, 2011 |
C. Blocher | 2004-07 | SVP | |
MR. Merz | 2004-10 | FDP | 2009 |
D. Leuthard | since 2006 5) | CVP | 2010, 2017 |
E. Widmer-Schlumpf | 2008–15 2) | BDP 6) | 2012 |
U. Mason | since 2009 | SVP | 2013, 2019 |
D. Burkhalter | 2009-17 | FDP | 2014 |
JN Schneider-Ammann | since 2010 | FDP | 2016 |
S. Sommaruga | since 2010 | PLC | 2015 |
A. Berset | since 2012 | PLC | 2018 |
G. Parmelin | since 2016 | SVP | |
I. Cassis | since 2017 | FDP | |
K. Keller-Sutter | since 2019 | FDP / SG | |
V. Amherd | since 2019 | CVP / VS | |
1) Selection (1848–1911 not taken into account; complete from 1918).2) Information from taking office until resignation (election often at the beginning of December of the previous year; regular resignation often on December 31 of the specified year).
3) Died in office. 4) In office until July. 5) Election on June 14, 2006. 6) SVP until the beginning of June 2008, non-attached from December 2007. |