Peter Bodenmann (born, 30 March 1952,

Lax Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

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 ...

) is a Swiss lawyer, entrepreneur and former member of the National Council for the

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz; SP; rm, Partida Socialdemocrata da la Svizra) or Swiss Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste suisse, it, Partito Socialista Svizzero; PS), is a polit ...

(SP). He was the president of the SP between 1990 and 1997.

Early life and education

He was born into a family with a political background in the Christian Democratic People's Party. After he graduated from the faculty of Law from the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

, he worked as an independent lawyer in

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

. Since his early years he was interested in leftwing politics and was one of the founders the political magazine Red Anneliese. In 1971 Peter Bodenmann co-founded the Critical Upper Valais movementas he was 24 years old, he became a local councilor of Brig-Glis. In 1982 he opened a law office in Brig and in the same year the movement Critical Upper Valais merged with the SP Upper Valais.

Political career

In 1985 Bodenmann was elected into the

Grand Council of Valais The Grand Council of Valais (french: Grand Conseil du Valais) (German: ''Grosser Rat'') is the legislature of the canton of Valais, in Switzerland. Valais has a unicameral legislature. Electoral system Members of the Grand Council of Valais a ...

and by November 1987 into the National Council. Bodenmann was a member of the National Council until 1997. In 1990 he assumed as the President of the SP, succeeding

Helmut Hubacher Helmut Hubacher (15 April 1926 – 19 August 2020) was a Swiss politician, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland. Biography After spending his early career with Swiss Federal Railways, he became a secretary with the Syndicate of ...

In 1997 he resigned as the President of the SP, and Ursula Koch became the first woman to be elected President of the SP. In the same year he was the first politician of the SP to be elected to the State Council of

Canton Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the Sw ...

. In March 1999 he resigned from the State council of Canton Valais and was succeeded by Thomas Burgener (SP).

Political positions

During his tenure as the President of the SP, the party maintained clear leftwing politics and supported an eventual accession to 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 ...

and came first in the Federal elections of 1995. He was a main rival of

Christoph Blocher Christoph Wolfram Blocher (; born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss industrialist and politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he headed the Federal Department of ...

of 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) and advocated for sensitive framework conditions and for maintaining a competitive

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

exchange rate in Switzerland because of the export industry and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

Later activities

After leaving politics in 1999, he became the owner of a Hotel in Brig. He has also been writing columns on political and economic topics in the

Weltwoche ''Die Weltwoche'' (German for "The World Week") is a Swiss weekly magazine based in Zürich. Founded in 1933, it has been privately owned by Roger Köppel since 2006. The magazine's regular columnists include the former president of the Soci ...

and has earned himself the nickname ''Oracle of Brig''. Through his prominence as a former SP president and a political columnist, he maintained quite some influence in the politics of the SP. It was assumed that his political entourage supported Ursula Kochs reassignment of the presidency of the SP.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodenmann, Peter People from Valais University of Zurich alumni 20th-century Swiss lawyers Swiss journalists Swiss politicians 1952 births Living people Social Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians