Christian Wasserfallen

Christian Wasserfallen was born in Bern on 30 June 1981. He is originally from Wileroltigen, in the same canton.[1]

The son of former Bern city councillor and national councillor Kurt Wasserfallen, Christian Wasserfallen studied mechanical engineering at the Bern University of Applied Sciences. He completed his studies in 2007.

Christian Wasserfallen holds the rank of officer in the army.[1] He is married to Alexandra Thalhammer, who sat for the PLR in the Bern city parliament from 2015 to 2018.[2]

His political career began in 2000 as a delegate of the Young Liberals. He chaired the Young Liberal Radicals of the City of Bern from 2002 to 2005. In 2003, he was elected to the legislative assembly of the city of Bern.[3]

In 2007 he was elected National Councillor for the The Liberals. He was re-elected in the federal elections of 2011, 2015 and 2019. He has been a member of the Committee on the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy since 2009 and Chairman of the Committee on Science, Education and Culture since 2011, having previously been a member of the Management Committee from 2007 to 2011.[1]

Christian Wasserfallen was one of the five vice-presidents of the Liberal-Radical Party from 2012 to 2019.[4] Although he was approached for a second term as party president in 2015,[5] he finally withdrew at the beginning of 2016.[6] That same year, he stood as a candidate for the presidency of the Swiss Automobile Club: however, his election was contested, complaints were lodged and he eventually relinquished the post.[7][8] The following year, in 2017, he declared his interest in running for the government of the canton of Bern,[9] but was not selected by his party,[8] which preferred Philippe Müller.[10]