The Federal Assembly (german: Bundesversammlung, french: Assemblée fédérale, it, Assemblea federale, rm, Assamblea federala), also known as the Swiss parliament (''Parlament'', ''Parlement'', ''Parlamento''), is
Switzerland's federal
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
. It meets in
Bern in the
Federal Palace.
The Federal Assembly is
bicameral, being composed of the 200-seat
National Council and the 46-seat
Council of States. The houses have identical powers. Members of both houses represent the
cantons, but, whereas seats in the National Council are distributed in proportion to population, each canton has two seats in the Council of States, except the six '
half-cantons', which have one seat each. Both are elected in full once every four years, with the
last election being held in 2019.
The Federal Assembly possesses the federal government's legislative power, along with the separate constitutional right of
citizen's initiative. For a law to pass, it must be passed by both houses. The two houses may come together as a
United Federal Assembly
The Federal Assembly (german: Bundesversammlung, french: Assemblée fédérale, it, Assemblea federale, rm, Assamblea federala), also known as the Swiss parliament (''Parlament'', ''Parlement'', ''Parlamento''), is Switzerland's federal legi ...
in certain circumstances, such as to elect the
Federal Council (the
head of government
The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...
and
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
), the
Federal Chancellor, the
federal judges or (only in times of great national danger) a
general.
History
Prior to the establishment of the
federal state in 1848, the only central organ of
Switzerland was the Federal Diet (''
Tagsatzung
The Federal Diet of Switzerland (german: Tagsatzung, ; french: Diète fédérale; it, Dieta federale) was the legislative and executive council of the Old Swiss Confederacy and existed in various forms from the beginnings of Swiss independen ...
''). Following the
Sonderbund War
The Sonderbund War (german: Sonderbundskrieg, fr , Guerre du Sonderbund, it , Guerra del Sonderbund) of November 1847 was a civil war in Switzerland, then still a relatively loose confederacy of cantons. It ensued after seven Catholic canton ...
in 1847, the ''Tagsatzung'' became responsible for drawing up the
Swiss Federal Constitution.
The process of formulating
legislative power
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known a ...
resulted in clashing opinions, in particular in relation to the representation of the various cantons: the
radicals, in the majority in the largest
cantons, pushed for a system where representation was purely proportional to the population of each township; the small cantons, for their part, feared being marginalized. After long debates, a compromise was found by adopting the American model of
bicameralism
Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single gro ...
; the parliament will be composed of two chambers with equal power, and the agreement of both will be required to take a decision. The
National Council, which represents the people, will comprise representatives from each canton with their distribution being proportional to the population of the cantons, while the
Council of States, which represents the cantons, will be composed of the same number of representatives from each canton. According to the
Constitution of 1848, the Federal Assembly is "the supreme authority of the Confederation".
The ''Tagsatzung'' accepted the draft constitution in June 1848. On September 12, following the vote of the various cantons, it noted that the Constitution had been approved and dissolved itself on September 22, as required by the transitional provisions of the approved text. During the month of October 1848, elections were organized in the cantons in order to elect the deputies. After a few skirmishes, particularly in the canton of Fribourg, the results were announced which confirmed the victory of the radicals, who won more than three-quarters of the seats in the National Council and 30 of the 44 seats in the Council of States. On, November 16 1848, Parliament elected the first Federal Council.
In 1874, following the revision of the Constitution and the introduction of extended popular rights, the Federal Assembly became "the supreme authority of the Confederation subject to the rights of the people and the cantons".
The organization of the two councils has changed little over time. When the National Council was created, the total number of seats was 111.
This number was not fixed and evolved in proportion to the growth of the Swiss population until 1962 when the definitive number of seats was established at 200; the term of office, meanwhile, was increased from the original 3 years to 4 years in 1931. The mode of election, originally according to the majority system, transitioned to
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
in 1918. The Council of States, meanwhile, was not modified until 1979, by adding two new seats for the
Canton of Jura
The Republic and Canton of Jura (french: République et canton du Jura), less formally the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura ( , ), is the newest (founded in 1979) of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital ...
which had just been created.
Composition
The Federal Assembly is made up of two chambers:
*the
National Council, with 200 seats; and
*the
Council of States, with 46 councillors.
Seats in the
National Council are allocated to the
cantons proportionally, based on
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
. In the
Council of States, every
canton has two seats (except for the former "half-cantons", which have one seat each).
United Federal Assembly
On occasions the two houses sit jointly as the "United Federal Assembly" (german: Vereinigte Bundesversammlung, french: Assemblée fédérale, Chambres réunies, it, Assemblea federale plenaria, rm, Assamblea federala plenara). This is done to:
* elect members of the
Federal Council, the
Federal Chancellor, the
federal judges or (only in times of great national danger) a
general
* arbitrate in the event of conflicts between
federal authorities;
* issue
pardons; or
* listen to special announcements
The United Federal Assembly is presided by the
National Council's presidency.
The Federal Assembly also confirms the appointment of the
Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner
french: Préposé fédéral à la protection des données et à la transparence it, Incaricato federale della protezione dei dati e della trasparenza
, logo = Logo der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft.svg
, logo_width = 300px
, lo ...
(appointed by the
Federal Council).
Groups
Parties can cooperate in ''parliamentary groups'', also called
political group
A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies.
International terms
Equivalent terms are used differ ...
s, allowing smaller parties access to rights as part of a
caucus. At least five members from the same Council are needed to form a group. Only informal groups exist in the
Council of States. Members of the
National Council are required to be in a formal group in order to be able to sit on a committee.
Since March 2009, there have been six groups in the Federal Assembly.
The latest group to form was the
Conservative Democratic Party which split off the Swiss People's Party in 2008.
The
Christian Democrats/EPP/glp Group (CEg) was formed after the 2007 elections, out of the former Christian Democratic (C) and EPP (E) groups.
The current FTP/Liberal group (RL) was formed in 2003 out of the former FDP (R) and Liberal (L) groups; since the 2009 fusion of the
Free Democrati and
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Parties, RL is once again a single-party group. In 2011, the CEg was disbanded, the Green Liberals formed their own parliamentary group (GL) and the three Christian parties formed the Christian-Evangelical Group (CE).
51st legislature (2019–2023)
Currently (for the legislative period of 2019–2023), the six parliamentary groups are composed as follows:
50th legislature (2015–2019)
After the
2015 federal election, the Federal Assembly was composed of 7 groups:
See also
*
2019 Swiss federal election
*
2015 Swiss federal election
*
2011 Swiss federal election
Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 23 October 2011.
All of the Federal Assembly were to be elected: all 200 seats in the National Council and all 46 seats in the Council of States.
Voter turnout was 49.1%, compared to 48.9% in 2 ...
*
2007 Swiss federal election
*
Hotel Bellevue Palace
*
Federal Diet of Switzerland
Notes and references
Bibliography
*
External links
Official website*
{{Authority control
Government of Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland
Politics of Switzerland
1848 establishments in Switzerland