This article lists the cantonal executives of Switzerland. Each canton of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

has its own

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

body, as well as

legislative body A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers o ...

. The Federal Council is the executive of the Swiss federal government, and is included for purposes of comparison. The cantonal executives are

collegial Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues, especially among peers, for example a fellow member of the same profession. Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and, at least in theory, respect each other's abilities t ...

bodies, each with 5 or 7 members. They are generally called ' (Executive Council) in German-speaking cantons and ' (State Council) in French-speaking cantons.

General structure

Presidents of the executives

The above mentioned collegial bodies are formally chaired by a president. However those presidents are

primus inter pares is a Latin phrase meaning first among equals. It is typically used as an honorary title for someone who is formally equal to other members of their group but is accorded unofficial respect, traditionally owing to their seniority in office. H ...

, that is a ''first among equals'' in the council; other than presiding over meetings and the ability to cast tie-breaking votes, the president only holds ceremonial powers. In the list below, unless otherwise noted, the official name of the office of president of the respective cantonal executive is ''Regierungsratspräsident'' (Government council president).

Elections

The cantonal governments are directly elected every four years. In some cantons (e.g.

Basel-Stadt Canton of Basel-Stadt or Basel-City ( ; ; ; ) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of three municipalities with Basel as the capital. It is traditionally considered a " half-canton", the other half being B ...

), the voters can cast a presidential vote for a candidate they are already voting for as member of the government. The elected member who has also received the most votes for president takes that office for the entirety of their term on the council, i.e. 4 years. In other cantons the electorate only elects the council members, and the presidency rotates according to seniority among members (e.g.

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and also in the federal council). The date of the elections is not the same as the date of the start of the tenure. For example, the elections in

Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...

were held in 2020, but the tenure of the new Executive started on 1 January 2021.

List of cantonal executives

Parties Note: due to the multiple official languages of Switzerland, parties may have more than one abbreviation * BDP/PBD: Conservative Democratic Party (belonging to The Centre) * CSP/PCS: Christian Social Party * CSP OW:

Christian Social Party of Obwalden The Christian Social Party of Obwalden (CSP Obwalden) is a List of political parties in Switzerland, political party in the canton of Obwalden, Switzerland. History Since the 1930s and 1940s, Christian trade unions and workers' associations exi ...

* Centre: The Centre * CSPO: Christian Social People's Party of Upper Valais (belonging to The Centre) * CVP/PDC/PPD/PCD : Christian Democratic People's Party (belonging to The Centre) * EVP:

Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland The Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland (, EVP), Swiss Evangelical Party (, PEV; , PEV), or Evangelical Party of Switzerland (, PEV) is a Protestant Christian-democratic political party in Switzerland, active mainly in the Cantons of Bern, ...

* FDP/PLR: FDP.The Liberals * GLP/PVL: Green Liberal Party * Green:

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

* Ind:

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

* LDP: Liberal Democratic Party of Basel-Stadt (belonging to the FDP) * Lega:

Ticino League The Ticino League () is a regionalist, national-conservative political party in Switzerland active in the canton of Ticino. The party was founded in 1991 by entrepreneur Giuliano Bignasca and journalist Flavio Maspoli. After some public camp ...

* MCG: Geneva Citizens’ Movement * SP/PS:

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

* SVP/UDC/PPS:

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...

Notes and references

External links