The Swiss government is called the Swiss Confederation. It has a constitution that was established in 1999 and is the third revision of this document. The government is also a federal republic that has 26 cantons and is located in the Swiss capital of Bern.
The government of Switzerland is quite different from many countries. For example, they are a direct democracy where Swiss citizens can vote on any law. And, the president of the country is a rotating role that lasts only one year.
The Swiss Federal Government has two distinct chambers which are similar to what other countries have. They are structured like many democracies with a senate and house of commons or house of representatives. They form what is known as the Federal Assembly and are called the National Council and the Council of States.
Table of Contents
The National Council
The first council that forms the Swiss government is the National Council. The National Council has 200 Councillors that are elected by Swiss voters using proportional representation. They hold office for four years.
The Council of States
The second chamber of the Swiss government is the Council of States. This chamber consists of 46 Councillors. Each Swiss canton is represented by two Councillors, except for the smaller half-cantons which have one representative.
The Federal Council
The executive branch of the Swiss government is controlled by what is called the Federal Council. This is a seven-person board that is elected by its peers in the Federal Assembly. This means all members of both the National Council and the Council of States have a say in who is elected to the Federal council.
The President of the Swiss Confederation
The president of Switzerland is actually a rotating role that is chosen from the Federal Council. The position is only held for one year.
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The president changes every December and is selected by the Swiss parliament.
The Federal Supreme Court
There is also a Federal Supreme court of the Swiss Confederation. It consists of 38 ordinary and 19 substitute judges. They are elected every 6 years by the whole Federal Assembly.
Their role is to arbitrate on disputes in various areas such as
- the field of civil law (citizens-citizens)
- the public arena (citizen-state)
- disputes between different cantons
- disputes between a canton(s) and the Swiss Confederation
Direct Democracy
Switzerland is actually one of the few direct democracies in the world. This means that Swiss citizens vote on a huge range of issues each year in a referendum. There is an average of fifteen different issues selected each year and to do approximately 40% of Swiss citizens usually vote.
People are also empowered to propose initiatives themselves where they are required to collect signatures of 100,000 voters in order for it to proceed any further.
Also, the Swiss electorate can also propose a referendum on a recent change to the Swiss legislation. In this case, 50,000 signatures are required within 100 days of the new legislation being published.
