Marlies Bänziger (born 14 March 1960) is a Swiss politician of the

Green Party of Switzerland The Green Party of Switzerland (; ; ; ) is a green political party in Switzerland. It is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council. History The first ...

Political career

Marlies Bänziger joined the

in the 1980s. In May 1990 she was elected to the

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

parliament (''Gemeinderat'') of Winterthur. From 2000 to 2005 Bänziger represented the municipality of Winterthur as a member of the

cantonal The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...

parliament. From June 2004 to January 2008 she was co-president, in co-operation with Balthasar Glättli, and president of the Green Party of the canton of Zürich by November 2009. Bänziger was elected to the National Council (''Nationalrat'') in the Swiss federal election in October 2007, but the following legislature she failed the majority of votes by just 103 votes in October 2011.

Mandatory work

From 1997 to 2009 she was elected as a councillor (''Bezirksrätin'') of the district of Winterthur. Among the parliament commissions, Bänziger was a member of the finance committee of the Swiss upper and lower parliament houses, and a member of the Swiss

EFTA The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The organization operates in parallel with the European Union ...

delegation. As constitutional councilor, in 2000 Bänziger became actively involved in the drafting of the new constitution of the Canton of Zürich, which was approved by the voters in 2005. In November 2008 Bänziger was elected president of the Swiss air emissions association (SSF), and in September 2009 she became president of ''Fussverkehr Schweiz'', a pedestrian organisation.

Personal life

Born in Winterthur, Marlies Bänziger was raised in

Oberembrach Oberembrach is a municipality in the district of Bülach in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History Oberembrach is first mentioned in 1274 as ''Obern-Emmerach''. However, the village was not an independent municipality until 1809. Before th ...

and in Winterthur; she has the citizenship (''Heimatort'') of Heiden AR and

Schüpfen Schüpfen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Seeland (administrative district), Seeland administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. History Schüpfen is first mentioned ...

by marriage. Bänziger acquired '' Maturität'' and the patent as a primary school teacher (''Primarlehrer'') at the Gymnasium in Winterthur, and worked for a short time as a flight attendant. She's a single mother of a daughter and a son.

References

External links

Marlies Bänziger on facebook
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banziger, Marlies 1960 births Living people Green Party of Switzerland politicians Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2007–2011 People from Winterthur Swiss schoolteachers Women members of the National Council (Switzerland) 20th-century Swiss women politicians 20th-century Swiss politicians 21st-century Swiss women politicians 21st-century Swiss educators 20th-century Swiss educators Flight attendants 20th-century Swiss women educators 21st-century Swiss women educators