COUNTRY	Swiss Confederation
ELECTION TYPE	Executive Branch elections
DATE	December 10, 2003

• The Executive Branch (The Federal Council)

• Executive Branch: Consists of the seven members of the Federal Council and the Federal Chancellor. The president and vice-president of the Confederation are elected from among the members of the Federal Council. The President is considered “first among equals,” and chairs the sessions of the Federal Council and undertakes special ceremonial duties.
• Assembly: Switzerland has a bicameral Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung or Assemblée Federale or Assemblea Federale) which consists of the Council of States (Standerat/Conseil des Etats/Consiglio degli Stati) with 46 seats and the National Council (Nationalrat/Conseil National/Consiglio Nazionale) with 200 seats.

• The members of the Federal Council and Federal Chancellor are directly elected by the United Federal Assembly for four year terms.
• The United Federal Assembly is directly elected by popular vote. In the Council of States, each canton has two representatives and each half canton has one. In the National Council, representation of the cantons is based upon population size, with the most densely-populated cantons having the greatest number of representatives. Members of both the Council of States and the National Council serve four year terms.

• Six of the seven curent members of the Federal Council are running for re-election.*
• Presidential candidate: Ruth Metzler Arnold

*Note: Kaspar Villiger, Head of the Federal Department of Finance, has decided not to seek re-election

• Federal Council elections were last held in December 1999.

• Population: 7,318,638 (July 2003)
• Number of registered voters: 4,628,782 (July 2003)

• Since 1959, the makeup of Federal Council has followed a “magic formula,” a power-sharing agreement whereby the seven members of the Council are drawn from the four largest political parties represented in the parliament, forming a stable, all-party coalition. The conservative Radical Free Democratic Party (FDP), the left-wing Social Democratic Party (SPS) and the center-right Christian Democratic People’s Party (CVP) traditionally have held two seats each and the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has held one seat. All of the incumbent members of the Federal Council can be re-elected and generally, they are. There are no term-limits on Federal Councillors. Usually, the vice-president (currently Ruth Metzler-Arnold) is elected to serve as president.
• However, this election year presents a unique challenge to the Swiss system. In the last parliamentary election in October 2003, the right-wing SVP significantly increased its number of seats in Parliament, making the SVP along with the left-wing SPS, one of the largest political parties. Meanwhile, the center-right CVP’s number of seats in Parliament decreased significantly. The number of seats granted to each party in the Federal Council was meant to be representative of the popular vote and party power in Parliament. As a result, the SVP has argued that one of the two seats held by the CVP be given to a member of the SVP.
• If the CVP loses a seat, it could be Ruth Metzler-Arnold’s, since she is one of two members of the CVP. In such a case, another incumbent member of the new Federal Council would be elected president. If Metzler-Arnold keeps her seat on the Federal Council, she will likely be elected President.
• Also, one of the Federal Councillors, Kaspar Villiger (FDP), has decided not to seek re-election. His vacant seat traditionally would be filled by another member of his party, however, in the current environment of change, a member of another party may gain the seat.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: IFES ELECTIONGUIDE ONLINE