President of the Swiss Confederation

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Switzerland
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Switzerland

Constitution Federal Council (members) Moritz Leuenberger Pascal Couchepin (VP 07) Samuel Schmid Micheline Calmy-Rey (Pres. 07) Christoph Blocher Hans-Rudolf Merz Doris Leuthard Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (elect) Federal Chancellor Federal Assembly Council of States (members) National Council (members) Political parties Elections 2003 - 2007 Voting in Switzerland Federal judiciary Federal Supreme Court Federal Criminal Court Federal Administrative Court Cantons Foreign relations Human rights
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The President of the Confederation (German: Bundespräsident, French: Président de la Confédération, Italian: Presidente della Confederazione, Romansh: President da la Confederaziun) is the presiding member of the Swiss Federal Council, Switzerland's seven-member executive. Elected by the Federal Assembly for one year, the President of the Confederation chairs the meetings of the Federal Council and undertakes special representational duties. Primus inter pares, the President has no powers above the other Councillors and continues to head his department. Traditionally the duty rotates among the members in order of seniority and the previous year's Vice President becomes President.

1 Competencies
2 Election
3 See also
4 External links

The Swiss President is not - as are for example the Presidents in Austria or Germany - the Head of State of the country. The Swiss Federal Constitution knows neither a Head of State nor a Head of Government. All of these functions are administered by the Federal Council collectively. If a tied vote occurs in the council, the President, being its Chair, casts the deciding vote.

In addition to the control of their own Department, the President carries out some of the representative duties of a Head of State. At first this was only the case inside Switzerland: The President gives speeches on the New Year and the Swiss National Holiday (1st August). More recently, added foreign visits means that the President also often travels abroad.

However, because the Swiss have no single Head of State, the country also carries out no state visits. When traveling abroad, the President does so only as an ordinary Minister of a government Department.

Visiting heads of state are received by the seven members of the Federal Council together, rather than by the President of the Confederation.

The President is elected by the Federal Assembly from the Federal Council in each case for one year.

In the 19th century, the election of the Federal President was an award for especially esteemed Federal Council members. However, a few influential members of the government were regularly passed over. One such example was St. Galler Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, who belonged to the government for twenty-seven years, but was federal president only once in 1853.

Since the twentieth century, the election has usually not been disputed. There is an unwritten rule that the member of the Federal Council who has not been Federal President the longest becomes president. Therefore every Federal Council member gets a turn at least once every seven years. The only question in the elections that provides some tension is the question of how many votes the person who is to be elected president receives. This is seen as a test of their popularity. In the 1970s and 1980s, 200 votes (of 246 possible) was seen as an excellent result. However, in the current era of growing party-political conflicts, 180 votes are already considered a respectable outcome.

Until 1920 it was usually customary for the serving federal president to also take over the Foreign Ministry. Therefore every year there was a moving around of posts, as the retiring president moved back to his old department and the new president moved into the foreign ministry. Likewise, it was traditional for the federal president, even as foreign minister, not to leave Switzerland during his year in office.

The 2007 President of the Confederation is Micheline Calmy-Rey, elected on 13 December 2006 to succeed Moritz Leuenberger. On 12 December 2007, Pascal Couchepin was elected president for 2008.