Gerhard Pfister (born 1 October 1962) is a Swiss politician. He has served as a member of the National Council. Since 2016, he has been the president of the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

Biography

Pfister was born on 1 October 1962 in

Zug , neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri , twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina) Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...

in the

Canton of Zug The canton of Zug, also Zoug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: , rm, Chantun Zug, french: Canton de Zoug, it, Canton Zugo) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. It is located in central Switzerland and its capital is Zug. At the canto ...

. His parents operated a private boarding school. He studied there before moving on to

Disentis Abbey Disentis Abbey (german: Reichskloster Disentis) is a Benedictine monastery in the Graubünden, Canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland, around which the present town of Disentis ( rm, Mustér) grew up. Early history Formerly the date of the f ...

school. He studied philosophy and literature at the

University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (french: Université de Fribourg; german: Universität Freiburg) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisi ...

. He taught at the school and took over operations after the death of his father in 1994. The school closed in 2012. In 1998, he was elected to the

Cantonal Council of Zug The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Conf ...

where he served through 2003. He then became the party president in Zug in 1999, a position he held in until 2008. He won a seat in the National Council in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. He was re-elected in 2007 and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. In 2016, he was elected as the president of the Christian Democrats, succeeding

Christophe Darbellay Christophe Darbellay (born 7 March 1971) is a Swiss politician. Since 2017, he is a member of the cantonal government of the Canton of Valais. From 2003–2015, he was member of the Swiss National Council The National Council (german: Nation ...

References

External links

Official pagePersonal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pfister, Gerhard 1962 births Living people 21st-century Swiss politicians Members of the National Council (Switzerland) University of Fribourg alumni People from Zug