National Council Of Switzerland
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The National Council (german: Nationalrat; french: Conseil national; it, Consiglio nazionale; rm, Cussegl naziunal) is the
lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
of the Federal Assembly of
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, the
upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...
being the Council of States. With 200 seats, the National Council is the larger of the two houses. Adult citizens elect the council's members, who are called National Councillors, for four year terms. These members are apportioned to the Swiss cantons in proportion to their population. Both houses meet in the
Federal Palace of Switzerland The Federal Palace is a building in Bern housing the Swiss Federal Assembly (legislature) and the Federal Council (executive). It is the seat of the government of Switzerland and parliament of the country. The building is a listed symmetric ...
in
Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...
.


Organisation

With 200 members, the National Council is the larger house of the Swiss legislature. When the Swiss federation was founded in 1848, the number of seats was not yet fixed, and was thus determined by the population of the individual cantons. According to the provisions of the federal constitution at that time, a canton was to receive one National Council member for every 20,000 citizens. Thus, the first National Council, which met in 1848, had 111 members. In 1963, the number of members was fixed at 200. The division of the seats between the individual cantons is determined by each canton's percentage of the national population, as revealed in the national census (including foreign residents), using the
largest remainder method The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with various h ...
. A change in the division of the seats occurred in 2003, as a result of the 2000 census. Every canton is entitled to at least one seat in the National Council. Unlike the upper house where no translation is provided, simultaneous translation is provided into
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
, French, and
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
, but not Romansh.


Electoral system

Under the
Swiss Federal Constitution The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation (SR 10; german: Bundesverfassung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (BV); french: Constitution fédérale de la Confédération suisse (Cst.); it, Costituzione federale della Confederaz ...
, elections for the National Council are held every four years by the Swiss people. The most recent election took place on Sunday, 20 October 2019. Since a popular initiative in 1918, elections have been by
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 which each canton forms an electoral district (''Wahlkreis''). There is no
election threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...
. Since 1971 women have been entitled to vote and stand in National Council elections. Since the reform of the census system and the adoption of the use of government administrative data for determining the population in 2007, the distribution of the seats in the National Council between the cantons has been based on the permanent resident population (including residents who are not entitled to vote) in the year following the most recent federal election. There is a proviso that each canton is entitled to at least one seat. The number of seats given to the cantons which are entitled to more than one seat is determined using the
largest remainder method The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with various h ...
. Cantons which are only entitled to send one councillor to the National Council elect the candidate who wins a
majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Websterfree list A free list (or freelist) is a data structure used in a scheme for dynamic memory allocation. It operates by connecting unallocated regions of memory together in a linked list, using the first word of each unallocated region as a pointer to the n ...
". Each citizen may cast as many votes as there are seats available to their constituency, and may even cast up to two votes for the same candidate. For every vote received by a candidate, that candidate's party also receives a vote. Voters also list a party vote, in which all blank candidate votes contribute towards the party's total. In elections, political parties publish lists in the cantons with their candidates. Each list contains at most the number of candidates which the canton is entitled to send to the National Council. In addition, each party can produce multiple lists to the canton (e.g. men's, women's, youth, or seniors' lists; in larger cantons they might offer lists for individual cities or districts). It is also possible for several parties to enter a single shared list. Voters may choose a pre-prepared party list without making changes or they can alter it by
cumulative voting Cumulative voting (also accumulation voting, weighted voting or multi-voting) is a multiple-winner method intended to promote more proportional representation than winner-take-all elections such as block voting or first past the post. Cumulative ...
or
panachage Panachage (, from French meaning "blend, mixture") is the name given to a procedure provided for in several open-list variants of the party-list proportional representation system. It gives voters more than one vote in the same ballot and allows ...
. Thus, the voter can give his vote to a specific candidate and ignore the rest of that candidate's party. Alternatively, it is possible for the voter to split his or her vote among several candidates from different parties. The seats are then apportioned using the
Hagenbach-Bischoff System The Hagenbach-Bischoff system is a variant of the D'Hondt method, used for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. It usually uses the Hagenbach-Bischoff quota for allocating seats, and for any seats remaining the D'Hondt meth ...
. This system is unique in that it allows voters to split their vote across different parties, depending on which candidate the voter prefers.


Fictional voter

To determine a party's strength, the notion of "fictional voter" was introduced and is defined by the Swiss Federal Statistical Institute as: number of votes obtained by party A * (number of valid ballots / number of valid votes). Individual voters can choose to make fewer than the permissible number of votes. The number of valid votes / number of valid ballots closely matches the number of deputies a canton needs to elect. More exactly, this number represents the average number of valid votes per voter. The formula can then be summed up by: number of votes obtained by party A / average of valid votes per voters. The result is the number of fictional voters for a given party in a given canton. A total number of fictional voters can then be established and the party strength can be deduced. The number of deputies in each party is determined at the cantonal level using
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 ...
with the
Hagenbach-Bischoff system The Hagenbach-Bischoff system is a variant of the D'Hondt method, used for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. It usually uses the Hagenbach-Bischoff quota for allocating seats, and for any seats remaining the D'Hondt meth ...
(except in single-member cantons.) The election's turnout is computed as: number of valid ballots cast / number of registered voters.


Role

The role and powers of the National Council are regulated by the ' (The Federal Law on the Federal Parliament (Parliament-Law)) and the fifth article of the
Swiss Federal Constitution The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation (SR 10; german: Bundesverfassung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (BV); french: Constitution fédérale de la Confédération suisse (Cst.); it, Costituzione federale della Confederaz ...
. The National Council, together with the Council of States, forms the Federal Parliament and exercises the highest legal authority in Switzerland, subject to the rights of the people and the cantons. Both chambers of the Federal Parliament are called "councils" (''Räte''). The National Council and the Council of States do not meet daily, but meet regularly for sessions. Usually, there are four sessions in a year, each lasting three weeks, with between two and five sittings per week. The spring session (''Frühjahrssession'') begins on the first Monday in March, the summer session (''Sommersession'') on the first Monday in June, the Autumn session (''Herbstsession'') after the Federal Day, and the winter session (''Wintersession'') on the last Monday in November.parlament.ch
Faktenblatt zu den Sessionen (PDF)
During the sessions, proposed legislation is debated. If there is not enough time in the regular sessions, an extra session can be convened.Art. 2 ParlG In special situations (political crises, wars, etc.) a quarter of the members of one of the two councils or the Federal Council can convene an extraordinary session. To date, there have been eight extraordinary sessions, most of them called by the social democratic parliamentary group.


Powers

The National Council and the Council of States are constitutionally completely equal - a bill is only law when it has been accepted by both councils in the same version. All business is considered by both councils in turn. The presidents of the councils decide together which council will handle a given matter first (''Erstrat'') Sometimes, after the first reading, the National Council and the Council of States end up producing different texts, in which case a difference resolution procedure takes place, in which the bill is sent back and forth between the two councils. After a bill has been sent back three successive times, the two councils must meet together to discuss the matter. Each year the National Council elects a , who leads sessions of the National Council and joint sessions of the National Council and the Council of States. This office is distinct from and ranks lower than the
President of the Swiss Confederation The president of the Swiss Confederation, also known as the president of the Confederation or colloquially as the president of Switzerland, is the head of Switzerland's seven-member Federal Council (Switzerland), Federal Council, the country's ...
.


Committees

* Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) * Committee for Science, Education and Culture (CSEC) * Committee for Social Security and Health (CSSH) * Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (CESPE) * Defence Committee (DefC) * Committee for Transportation and Telecommunications (CTT) * Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation (CEAT) * Political Institutions Committees (PIC) * Committee for Legal Affairs (CLA) * Committee for Public Buildings (CPB)


Supervisory committees

* Finance Committee (FC) * Control Committees (CC) * Parliamentary investigation committees (PIC)


Other committees

* Committee on Pardons * Rehabilitation Committee * Drafting Committee * Judicial Committee


Members per canton


See also

*
List of presidents of the National Council of Switzerland The President of the National Council of Switzerland (german: Nationalratspräsident; french: Président du Conseil national, it, Presidente del Consiglio nazionale; rm, President dal cussegl naziunal) presides over the National Council and Fed ...
*
List of members of the National Council of Switzerland, 2019–23 A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
* List of members of the National Council of Switzerland, 2011–15 * List of members of the National Council of Switzerland, 2007–11 * List of members of the National Council of Switzerland, 2003–07


Notes and references


Bibliography

*


External links


Official websiteSwiss Parliament
{{Authority control . 01
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...