Christa Markwalder (born 27 July 1975) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

politician and former President of the National Council. Markwalder studied jurisprudence and ecology at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It ...

. She then worked as an assistant at the Institute for European and International Economic Law at the University of Bern. Since January 2008 she has been working as a lawyer for

Zurich Financial Services Zurich Insurance Group Ltd is a Swiss insurance company, headquartered in Zürich, and the country's largest insurer. As of 2021, the group is the world's 112th largest public company according to ''Forbes'' Global 2000s list, and in 2011 it ran ...

Politics

Markwalder joined the Young Liberals and sat in the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

of Burgdorf between 1999 and 2002. In 2002, she was elected to the

Grand Council of Bern The Grand Council (german: Grosser Rat, french: Grand conseil) is the parliament of the Swiss canton of Bern. It consists of 160 members (as of 2006) elected by proportional representation for a four-year term of office. The French-speaking part ...

e while her father, Hans-Rudolf Markwalder, conceded defeat in the same elections. In 2003, Markwalder resigned from the Grand Council as she was elected to the National Council, and her father assumed her vacant Grand Council seat. Markwalder was re-elected to the National Council in 2007, 2011 and 2015. After the election of

Simonetta Sommaruga Simonetta Myriam Sommaruga (born 14 May 1960) is a Swiss politician who has served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2010. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), she was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2015 and 202 ...

to the Federal Council, Markwalder ran for the vacant Bernese seat in the Council of States in February 2011. She finished in third place in the first round and subsequently decided to withdraw from the race. Markwalder was elected President of the National Council on 30 November 2015.

References

External links

Christa Markwalder profile on parlament.ch

personal website
1975 births Living people Members of the National Council (Switzerland) Presidents of the National Council (Switzerland) People from Burgdorf, Switzerland University of Bern alumni Swiss women lawyers Women members of the National Council (Switzerland) FDP.The Liberals politicians 20th-century Swiss politicians 21st-century Swiss women politicians 21st-century Swiss politicians 21st-century Swiss lawyers 21st-century Swiss women 20th-century women lawyers 21st-century women lawyers {{Switzerland-politician-stub