Brigitte Häberli-Koller (born 23 August 1958) is a Swiss politician of The Centre (DM/LC) party, formerly of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC, until 2021). She was a member of the National Council from 2003 to 2011 and has been a member of the Council of States since 2011, of which she served as its

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

from 2022 to 2023.

Early life and education

Brigitte Häberli was born in August 1958 in

Wetzikon Wetzikon is a small town in the Zürcher Oberland, Zurich Highlands (Zürcher Oberland) area of Switzerland, in the district of Hinwil (district), Hinwil in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich. Geography The Municipal ...

Canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

but has her

place of origin In Switzerland, the place of origin (, literally "home place" or "citizen place"; ; , literally "place of relevance") denotes where a Swiss citizen has their municipal citizenship, usually inherited from previous generations. It is not to be confus ...

Münchenbuchsee Münchenbuchsee is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Bern-Mittelland (administrative district), Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. It is famous a ...

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

. After she completed her apprenticeship as a merchant, she worked for some time in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Political career

She joined The Centre in In 1996 she became a member of the Executive Council of Bichelsee-Balterswil, the same year she was also elected into the

Grand Council of Thurgau The Grand Council of Thurgau () is the legislature of the canton of Thurgau, in Switzerland. Thurgau has a unicameral legislature. The Grand Council has 130 seats, with members elected every four years. The council has the unique feature in Swi ...

representing CVP. She worked for both political offices until 2003. In the Federal Elections of 2003, she was elected into the National Council by a margin of sixteen votes, representing the CVP for Thurgau. In 2005, she was discussed as possible president of CVP, but then declined. 2011 she was a member of the National Council. In the Federal Elections of 2011 she was elected into the Council of States. She was the first women to represent the Canton of Thurgau in the Council of States. In November 2022 she was elected as the president of the Council of States.

Élisabeth Baume-Schneider Élisabeth Baume-Schneider (; born 24 December 1963) is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP) and a current member of the Federal Council. She was elected on 7 December 2022, the first elected member from the Can ...

of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SP) and

Lisa Mazzone Lisa Marie Mazzone (; ; born 25 January 1988) is a Swiss politician who currently serves as President of the Green Party of Switzerland since 2024. She previously served as a member of the Council of States (Switzerland) from 2019 to 2023, the ...

of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

(GP) will assume the first and second Vice-Presidencies, therefore making it the first Council of States presided by three women.

Presidency of Council of States

In her inaugurating speech, Brigitte Häberli-Koller appealed to the political instrument of a

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...

, which would allow the Swiss population to remain honest.

Personal life

Brigitte Häberli-Koller is married and the mother of three children. Her political career is celebrated in her municipality and after her election to the presidency of the Council of States she was granted an honorary citizenship of Bichelsee-Balterswil. She lives in Bichelsee with her husband.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Häberli-Koller, Brigitte 1958 births Living people 21st-century Swiss women politicians 21st-century Swiss politicians The Centre politicians People from Wetzikon Presidents of the Council of States (Switzerland)