Marco Chiesa (born 10 October 1974) is a Swiss politician who has presided over the

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (german: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP; rm, Partida populara Svizra, PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (french: Union démocratique du centre, UDC; it, Unione Democratica di Centro, UDC), is a nati ...

(SVP/UDC) since 2020. He served as a member of the Grand Council of Ticino from 2007 to 2015 and National Council from 2015 to 2019. Chiesa has been a member of the Council of States since 2019.

Biography

Chiesa was born in Lugano in 1974. His father was a street maintenance worker and he grew up in the

Molino Nuovo Molino Nuovo is a quarter of the city of Lugano, in the Swiss canton of Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesi ...

section of the city. He graduated from 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 Canisius ...

with a degree in business administration. After college, he worked as a tax advisor and banking expert. However, his career shifted when he became the manager of a retirement home in the Italian speaking region of

Grisons The Grisons () or Graubünden,Names include: *german: (Kanton) Graubünden ; * Romansh: ** rm, label= Sursilvan, (Cantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Vallader, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Puter, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Surmiran, (Cant ...

. He entered politics as a member of the municipal council of

Villa Luganese Villa Luganese is a quarter of the city of Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino ...

. In 2007, he was elected to the Grand Council of Ticino. He won a seat in the National Council in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and served one term. In the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, he finished second in the first round of voting behind incumbent Filippo Lombardi. With no candidates taking an absolute majority in the first round, the election went to a second round where Chiesa and Marina Carobbio Guscetti surprised with a win over, Lombardi and Giovanni Merlini. Chiesa became the first member of the SVP to represent Ticino in the Council of States and, with the defeat of Merlini, was the first time in more than a century that

FDP.The Liberals french: PLR.Les Libéraux-Radicaux it, PLR.I Liberali Radicali rm, PLD.Ils Liberals , logo = , caption = Logo of the party in French, German, and Italian , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Thierry Burkart ...

and its predecessor, the FDP, did not elect one of its members from Ticino. Chiesa was elected to his party's vice presidency in 2018. In 2019, he was mentioned as a possible successor to outgoing SVP president

Albert Rösti Albert Rösti (born 7 August 1967) is a Swiss entrepreneur, association official and politician who presided over the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) from 2016 to 2020. He has served as a member of the National Council for the canton of Bern sinc ...

; however, he initially rejected the overtures as his management of the retirement home did not allow him to take on another position. He later resigned from the center, which opened up the possibility of his nomination. In July 2020, a selection committee of the SVP tasked with nominating a new party president named Chiesa as its preferred candidate for the post. Andreas Glarner withdrew in favor of Chiesa. Before the election,

Alfred Heer Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

also withdrew. Chiesa was formally elected as the party president on 22 August 2020. Chiesa has been described as being very close to former SVP power broker Christoph Blocher. He has supported changes to Switzerland's bilateral treaties with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

with regard to immigration. He has criticized uncontrolled immigration as being responsible for traffic jams, higher housing costs and unfair competition for workers. He speaks Italian and French fluently and can speak German well.

References

External links

Biographical entry on the Federal Parliament website

Personal homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiesa, Marco 1974 births Living people People from Ticino Swiss People's Party politicians Members of the National Council (Switzerland) Members of the Council of States (Switzerland) University of Fribourg alumni