National Council of Switzerland
| National Council of Switzerland German: Nationalrat French: Conseil National Italian: Consiglio Nazionale Romansh: Cussegl Naziunal |
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| Type | |
| Type | lower house |
| Members | 200 |
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| www.parliament.ch | |
The National Council of Switzerland (German: Nationalrat, French: Conseil National, Italian: Consiglio Nazionale, Romansh: Cussegl Naziunal) is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland. With 200 seats, it is the larger of the two houses.
The National Council is elected by Swiss adult citizens, as is most of the Swiss Council of States. There were 4.6 million citizens old enough to vote in 2003. Members, called 'National Councillors', serve for four-year terms.
Each of the 26 cantons is a constituency. The number of deputies of each constituency depends on the population of the canton. Zürich, which is the most-populous canton, has 34 seats; Uri, Glarus, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, and Appenzell Innerrhoden, each have only one seat.[1] For cantons with more than one seat, proportional representation is used.
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[edit] 2011 election
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The 2011 election to the National Council resulted in a strengthening of the political center, reversing the trend towards polarisation in Swiss politics during the 1990s and 2000s, the centrist parties gaining an overall of about 7% of the popular vote, with the right pole losing 3.6% and the left pole losing 3.5%. Voter turnout was 48.6%, compared to 48.9% in 2007.
| Parties | Abbr. | Alignment | Ideology | Votes[2] | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss People's Party | SVP/UDC | Right-wing | National conservatism | 641,106 | 26.6 | −2.4 | 54 | −8 | |
| Social Democratic Party | SPS/PSS | Left-wing | Social democracy | 450,693 | 18.7 | −0.9 | 46 | +3 | |
| FDP.The Liberals | FDP/PLR | Centre-right | Classical liberalism | 364,704 | 15.1 | −2.5 | 30 | −5 | |
| Christian Democratic People's Party | CVP/PDC | Centre | Christian democracy | 296,350 | 12.3 | −2.2 | 28[3] | −3 | |
| Green Party | GPS/PES | Left-wing | Green politics | 203,447 | 8.4 | −1.2 | 15 | −5 | |
| Green Liberal Party | GLP/PVL | Centre | Green liberalism | 130,041 | 5.4 | +4.0 | 12 | +9 | |
| Conservative Democratic Party | BDP/PBD | Centre-right | Conservatism / economic liberalism | 130,878 | 5.4 | New | 9 | New | |
| Evangelical People's Party | EVP/PEV | Centre | Christian democracy | 48,259 | 2.0 | −0.4 | 2 | ±0 | |
| Ticino League | LdT | Right-wing | Regionalism / Right-wing populism | 18,956 | 0.8 | +0.2 | 2 | +1 | |
| Christian Social Party | CSP/PCS | Left-wing | Christian left | 15,312 | 0.6 | +0.2 | 1[4] | ±0 | |
| Geneva Citizens' Movement | MCG | Right-wing | Regionalism / Right-wing populism | 10,555 | 0.4 | +0.3 | 1 | +1 | |
| Federal Democratic Union | EDU/UDF | Right-wing | Christian right | 30,340 | 1.3 | ±0 | 0 | −1 | |
| Left (Alternative Left, Party of Labour, solidarités) | LIN/GAU | Far-left | Socialism / communism | 28,861 | 1.2 | −0.1 | 0 | −1 | |
| Other | 40,623 | 1.7 | 0 | ±0 | |||||
| Total (turnout 49.1%) | 2,410,125 | — | — | 200 | — | ||||
| Source: Federal Chancellery, Swiss Broadcasting DRS (German) | |||||||||
[edit] 2007 election
The 2007 election to the National Council saw the Swiss People's Party strengthen its position as the largest party, gaining seven seats to put it on 62. In second place, the Social Democratic Party lost nine seats, giving it 43. The Free Democratic Party and Christian Democratic People's Party tied for third place with 31 seats each, having lost five seats and gained three seats respectively. The Green Party broke into the main group of parties, increasing its number of seats by seven to leave it on 20 after the election.
| Parties | Abbr. | Ideology | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss People's Party | SVP/UDC | National conservatism | 672,562 | 28.9 | +2.2 | 62 | +7 | |
| Social Democratic Party | SPS/PSS | Social democracy | 451,916 | 19.5 | –3.8 | 43 | –9 | |
| Free Democratic Party | FDP/PLR | Classical liberalism, Radicalism | 364,736 | 15.8 | –1.3 | 31 | –5 | |
| Christian Democratic People's Party | CVP/PDC | Christian democracy | 335,623 | 14.5 | +0.1 | 31 | +3 | |
| Green Party | GPS/PES | Green politics | 222,206 | 9.6 | +2.2 | 20 | +7 | |
| Liberal Party | LPS/PLS | Classical liberalism | 41,682 | 1.9 | –0.3 | 4 | ±0 | |
| Green Liberal Party | GLP/PVL | Green liberalism | 33,104 | 1.4 | N/A | 3 | N/A | |
| Evangelical People's Party | EVP/PEV | Christian democracy | 56,748 | 2.4 | +0.1 | 2 | –1 | |
| Federal Democratic Union | EDU/UDF | Christian right | 29,914 | 1.3 | ±0.0 | 1 | –1 | |
| Party of Labour | PdA/PST-POP | Communism | 17,218 | 0.7 | ±0.0 | 1 | –1 | |
| Ticino League | LdT | National conservatism | 13,031 | 0.6 | +0.2 | 1 | ±0 | |
| Christian Social Party | CSP/PCS | Christian left | 9,984 | 0.4 | ±0.0 | 1 | ±0 | |
| Swiss Democrats | SD/DS | Nationalism | 12,609 | 0.5 | –0.5 | 0 | –1 | |
| solidaritéS | Sol | Socialism | 8,669 | 0.4 | –0.1 | 0 | –1 | |
| Alternative List | AL | Socialism | 4,582 | 0.2 | –0.3 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Others | 43,327 | 1.8 | +0.2 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| Total (turnout 48.9%) | 2,317,911 | — | — | 200 | — | |||
| Source: http://www.politik-stat.ch/nrw2007CH_de.html | ||||||||
[edit] Committees
- Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC)
- Committee for Science, Education and Culture (CSEC)
- Committee for Social Security and Health (CSSH)
- Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (CESPE)
- Defence Committee (DefC)
- Committee for Transportation and Telecommunications (CTT)
- Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation (CEAT)
- Political Institutions Committees (PIC)
- Committee for Legal Affairs (CLA)
- Committee for Public Buildings (CPB)
[edit] Supervisory committees
- Finance Committee (FC)
- Control Committees (CC)
- Parliamentary investigation committees (PIC)
[edit] Other committees
- Committee on Pardons
- Rehabilitation Committee
- Drafting Committee
- Judicial Committee
[edit] Lists
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Federal Palace of Switzerland |
- Presidents of the National Council of Switzerland.
- List of members of the Swiss National Council (2007-2011)
- List of members of the Swiss National Council (2003-2007)
[edit] Members per canton
| Abbr | Canton | Number of Seats |
|---|---|---|
| ZH | Zurich | 34 |
| BE | Bern | 26 |
| LU | Lucerne | 10 |
| UR | Uri | 1 |
| SZ | Schwyz | 4 |
| OW | Obwalden (Obwald) | 1 |
| NW | Nidwalden (Nidwald) | 1 |
| GL | Glarus | 1 |
| ZG | Zug | 3 |
| FR | Fribourg | 7 |
| SO | Solothurn | 7 |
| BS | Basel-Stadt (Basel-City) | 5 |
| BL | Basel-Landschaft (Basel-Country) | 7 |
| SH | Schaffhausen | 2 |
| AR | Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Appenzell Outer Rhodes) | 1 |
| AI | Appenzell Innerrhoden (Appenzell Inner Rhodes) | 1 |
| SG | St. Gallen (St. Gall) | 12 |
| GR | Graubünden (Grisons) | 5 |
| AG | Aargau (Argovia) | 15 |
| TG | Thurgau (Thurgovia) | 6 |
| TI | Ticino | 8 |
| VD | Vaud | 18 |
| VS | Valais (Wallis) | 7 |
| NE | Neuchâtel | 5 |
| GE | Geneva | 11 |
| JU | Jura | 2 |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ http://www.parlament.ch/homepage/ra-nr-nationalrat/ra-nr-nationalrat-mitglieder-prokanton.htm
- ^ The official results are listed by canton. These numbers are a summary of the 26 separate tables of cantonal results. See German-language Wikipedia for details.
- ^ One seat for Ticino goes to either Duca Widmer Monica or Romano Marco, both of whom received the exact same number of 23,979 votes. It is yet to be decided (as of 25 October) which candidate will receive the seat.
- ^ Karl Vogler of Obwalden, declared his intention to join the Christian Democratic parliamentary group.
