The Grand Council (german: Grosser Rat, french: Grand conseil) is the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

of the

Swiss canton 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 Co ...

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 ...

. It consists of 160 members (as of 2006) elected 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 ...

for a four-year term of office. The French-speaking part of the canton, the

Bernese Jura Bernese Jura (french: Jura bernois, ) is the name for the French-speaking area of the Swiss canton of Bern, and from 2010 one of ten administrative divisions of the canton. Comprising the three French-speaking districts in the northern part of the ...

(districts of

Courtelary Courtelary is a municipality of the French-speaking Bernese Jura, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The town is the capital of the Jura bernois administrative district. History Courtelary is first mentioned in 968 as ''Curtis Alerici'' i ...

La Neuveville La Neuveville (; german: Neuenstadt) is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). History La Neuveville is first mention ...

and

Moutier Moutier () is a municipality in Switzerland. Currently, the town belongs to the Jura bernois administrative district of the canton of Bern. On 28 March 2021, the population voted to secede from the canton of Bern and join the Canton of Jura; the ...

) has 12 seats guaranteed, and 3 seats are guaranteed for the French-speaking minority of the bilingual district of

Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; , ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Biel/Bienne (administrative district), Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Swi ...

Election

The council is re-elected every four years. Like other legislatures in Switzerland, elections use

party list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...

. There are nine constituencies, based on the districts of the Canton. Karte Kanton Bern Verwaltungskreise 2010

Composition

The last election was held in 2018. GrandconseilBern2018

References

External links

All links are in German and French, unless otherwise noted.
Official website of the Grand Council of Bern
* German-language Wikipedia article on the Grand Council of Bern * Websites for th
2002
an
2006
Grand Council elections {{Politics of Swiss cantons

Politics of the canton of Bern