2023 Swiss Federal Council election

An election for all seven members of the Federal Council, Switzerland's government, will be held on 13 December 2023 for the 2024–2028 term. It will follow the federal election held a month earlier and will partly depend on its results.

2023 Swiss Federal Council election
13 December 2023
All 7 Federal Councillors
  First party Second party
 
Party Swiss People's Social Democrats
Incumbent Guy Parmelin
since 2016		 Alain Berset
since 2012
(retiring)
  Albert Rösti
since 2023		 Élisabeth Baume-Schneider
since 2023
  Third party Fourth party
 
Party FDP.The Liberals The Centre
Incumbent Ignazio Cassis
since 2017		 Viola Amherd
since 2018
  Karin Keller-Sutter
since 2018
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All Federal Councillors except Alain Berset are running for re-election. Per an informal agreement between the political parties known as the magic formula, incumbents are traditionally left unopposed and open seats are only contested by the incumbent's party, ensuring the partisan balance.

Elections for President of the Swiss Confederation and Vice President of the Federal Council, as well as for Chancellor of Switzerland, will also take place; Federal Councillor Viola Amherd is expected to take the presidency for the year 2024 following the informal rotation agreement. After the election, the head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (currently held by Berset) will have to be allocated, leading to a potential reshuffle of the federal departments within the Council.

Background

In Switzerland, the 7-seat executive Federal Council is elected by the Federal Assembly (both chambers of the legislature sitting together); in practice it is apportioned between the parties following the unwritten agreement known as the "magic formula". The formula was followed from 1959 to 2007, and again since 2015. Since 2016 the composition has been: SVP 2 seats, SP 2 seats, FDP 2 seats, and Die Mitte (succeeding the CVP) 1 seat.

Federal councillors are traditionally re-elected until they step down; only four have ever lost re-election. Councillors tend to stand down during their term in order to ensure their party retains their seat and to allow their party to get more visibility at a moment other than shortly after a general election.[1] These by-elections were held only ten months before the 2023 federal election.

On 21 June 2023, a few days after the results of the June referendums, social-democratic councillor Alain Berset announced he would resign effective 31 December, after serving for 12 years. He described the referendum of the amendment to the COVID-19 Act as an end to "the Covid cycle", which defined his third term as head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs.[2] Following the existing precedent, only SP candidates are expected to stand for his seat.

There was speculation about which departments of the Federal administration would be attributed to whom after the election. For the first time, Ignazio Cassis (FDP-TI) will rank highest in seniority after heading Foreign Affairs for six years; the resignation of Berset leaves the Federal Department of Home Affairs open for the first time since 2011.

Electoral system

The seats are elected using an absolute majority with an exhaustive ballot, each seat being filled independently. In the first two rounds members of the Federal Assembly can vote for anyone eligible, but only those receiving at least ten votes are announced in the results; from the third round onwards only candidates who received at least ten votes in one of the first two rounds are eligible, the last-placed candidate is eliminated until someone reaches an overall majority.[3]

After the elections, the Council meets to attribute the departments of the Federal administration to each councillor. The departments are attributed by a council decision; in practice, each member announces their preference in order of seniority leaving the newly-elected members last, and the council adopts their preferences. In 2018, as Viola Amherd and Karin Keller-Sutter were elected on the same day, the council chose to let Keller-Sutter choose earlier despite having been elected slightly later.[4]

Federal Assembly

The composition of the Federal Assembly will depend on the composition of the National Council and Council of States after the 2023 Swiss federal election.

Candidates

Incumbents

Incumbents, in descending order of seniority, including political party affiliation and department at the time of the election:

Candidates to Berset's seat

Berset's resignation announcement quickly led to media speculation then candidacies announcements, which are to be open until 3 November. The Greens re-affirmed their claim to a seat in the Council, either FDP or SP.[2][5]

Declared

As of October 2023, the following individuals have announced their candidacy:

Potential

As of late September 2023, the following individuals have been subjects of speculation about their potential candidacy:[2][12]

Declined to be candidate

The following individual has been the subject of speculation about her possible candidacy, but has publicly denied interest in running.

Results

Chancellor of the Confederation
2023 Swiss chancellor election
13 December 2023
Chancellor before election

Walter Thurnherr

 Elected Chancellor

TBD

President of the Confederation
2023 Swiss presidential election
13 December 2023
President before election

Alain Berset

 Elected President

TBD

References
  1. Longchamp, Claude (2018-12-20). "L'élection du Conseil fédéral a-t-elle été vraiment normale?" [Has the Federal Council election really been normal?]. Swissinfo.ch (in French).
  2. "Alain Berset annonce qu'il va quitter le Conseil fédéral en décembre". rts.ch (in French). 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  3. Talos, Christine (2018-12-03). "Élection au Conseil fédéral: le mode d'emploi" [Election to the Federal Council: the manual]. Lematin.ch (in French). Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  4. "Élections fédérales: En attendant le grand chambardement au Conseil fédéral". Le Matin (in French). 2022-11-30. ISSN 1018-3736. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  5. "Suisse: Les Verts vont se lancer à l'assaut du Conseil fédéral". 20 minutes (in French). 2023-09-02. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  6. "Matthias Aebischer (BE) s'exprime sur sa candidature à la succession d'Alain Berset au Conseil fédéral". rts.ch (in French). 2023-09-14. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  7. "Evi Allemann est candidate à la succession d'Alain Berset au Conseil fédéral". rts.ch (in French). 2023-10-16. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  8. "Le socialiste bâlois Beat Jans se lance dans la course au Conseil fédéral". rts.ch (in French). 2023-09-22. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  9. "Daniel Jositsch est candidat au Conseil fédéral: interview". rts.ch (in French). 2023-09-05. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  10. "Nordmann will Bundesrat werden". srf.ch (in German). 2023-10-04. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  11. "Jon Pult will SP-Bundesrat werden". srf.ch (in German). 2023-10-02. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  12. "Qui succédera à Alain Berset, président de la Confédération?". 20 minutes (in French). 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
  13. "La Bâloise Eva Herzog renonce à une nouvelle candidature au Conseil fédéral". rts.ch (in French). 2023-09-20. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
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