2.4.3 Switzerland: Confederation
Description
This article is from the Switzerland FAQ, by Marc Schaefer schaefer@alphanet.ch with numerous contributions by others.
2.4.3 Switzerland: Confederation
The Federal Constitution from 1848 has been largely influenced by the
constitution of the USA: a Parliament made up of the representatives
of the People and of the States. Voters are the same as in
Cantons. There is the `Federal Assembly', the legislative branch,
composed of two chambers (National Council, or People's chamber, and
the Council of States). Members of both chambers are elected by the
people; the election procedures are, nevertheless, different for the
two chambers: each state has a number of seats in the National Council
proportional to its population and the election modus is
proportional and handled at the federal level. On the contrary, the
Council of States is meant to represent the Cantons (there are 2
senators per Canton, 1 for half-cantons) and councillors are elected
with rules varying from Canton to Canton, usually
majoritarian. Originally, the role of this chamber was to prevent a
single Canton (e.g. Zuerich for Swiss-German, or Geneva for
French-speaking) to control the decisions. A bill becomes law if it
passes both chambers (assuming the law is not subject to compulsory
referendum, or referendum, where the people have the last
word). Differences in opinion between the two chambers are conciliated
in a joint conference committee.
There is no Constitutional Court: thus federal laws and acts sometimes
conflict with the Constitution. As a last resort, the Federal Court can
hear specific cases and emit a jurisprudence.
The executive power is vested in the Federal Council, composed of 7
Federal Councillors, each of whom is the head of a federal
department. The presidency and vice-presidency are held every year by a
different member of the Federal Council (by rotation). The Federal
Council is elected by the Federal Assembly after proposition by the
main Parties.
The 1999 Federal Councillors and their portfolios are:
Ruth METZLER, AI [ CVP ] Department of Justice and Police
Joseph DEISS, FR [ CVP ] Department of Foreign Affairs
Kaspar VILLIGER, LU [ FDP ] Department of the Treasury
Samuel SCHMID, BE [ SVP ] Department of the Defence
[ Formerly ``of the Military'', now
including again sports ]
Ruth DREIFUSS, GE/AG/BE [ SP ] Department of Internal Affairs
Pascal COUCHEPIN, VS [ FDP ] Department of Public Economy
Moritz LEUENBERGER, ZH [ SP ] Department of Energy, Transport,
and Communications
[ naming has slightly changed, but
we don't care, really ]
President for 2001 is Kaspar VILLIGER (2001: Moritz LEUENBERGER; 2000:
Adolf OGI; 1999: Ruth DREIFUSS; 1998: Flavio COTTI; 1997: Arnold
KOLLER; 1996: Jean-Pascal DELAMURAZ; 1995: Kaspar VILLIGER).
The Federal Council differs from the executive branch in other
countries. While it resembles a Cabinet, there are distinct
differences: (1) There is no prime minister. All seven members of the
Council are of equal rank (Minister). (2) The Council is not subject
to a non-confidence vote in Parliament. Technically, Switzerland is
therefore not a parliamentary democracy. (3) The parliament appoints
the Councillors every four year. No repeal is practically possible
during the tenure (early retreat is possible, see e.g. Mrs. Kopp, or
recently Mr. Stich). (4) There is really little control on what the
government does since most of its activities are classified. There can
be Parliament Commissions mandated to audit on special cases.
Switzerland has been governed by a grand coalition since 1959. The
`magic formula' defines the composition of the grand coalition of the
executive. It permits almost all important Swiss Parties (both
right-wing and left-wing) to have a seat (or more than one). Another
`magic formula rule' states that there must be 4 Swiss-German,
2 Swiss-French, and, if possible 1 Swiss-Italian.
The rule in the Constitution forbidding more than one Councillor from
one Canton (the goal was to prevent a single Canton, e.g. Zuerich for
Swiss-German, or Geneva for French-speaking region, to get too much
power) was abrogated after a few clever circumventions (election of
Ruth DREIFUSS, see [4]).
The parties represented are:
Center Democratic Union (center-right[1]) (1) [ SVP ]
(This can be translated also by Swiss People's Party or the
Agrarian Party)
Radical Democratic Party (moderate right) (2) [ FDP ]
(This may be translated as Liberal Democratic Party, however,
there is another Liberal party mainly in the French-speaking part,
thus I took the French translation.)
Social-Democratic Party (moderate left/left) (2) [ SP ]
Christian Democratic Party (moderate right) (2) [ CVP ]
These four are the major parties in Switzerland, but there are many
more, on both sides of the spectrum. It should be noted that the same
party can have quite different points of view depending on the canton,
a well-known example is SVP Bern and SVP Zurich. CVP, FDP and SVP are
all considered on the right, with SVP usually being the most
conservative and sometimes linked to rural communities. FDP is the
big business's party, and CVP is predominant in Roman Catholic cantons. SP
is the only major party of the left, but often has alliances with the
Green Party (ecologists) and other groups with common interests.
Other Swiss Parties:
Liberal Party (LPS) (right)
Swiss democrats (SD) (extreme-right)
Communist Party (extreme-left)
Partei der Arbeit (PDA)
Parti du Travail (PdT)
Parti Ouvrier Populaire (POP)
Liberty Party (right to extreme-right)
Green Party (GPS) (moderate left)
Independent Party (LdU) (center-right)
Ticino League (right to extreme-right)
SolidariteS (moderate left)
While the representation of parties in the executive has been constant
for the last decades, their seats in the Parliament depends on the
vote shares. Here is the current representation (next elections
October 1995):
National council:
seats (200 total) FDP 44, SP 42, CVP 37, SVP 25, GPS 14, LPS 10,
AP 8, LdU 6, SD 5, EVP 3, PdA 2, Ticino League 2,
other 2.
Council of States:
seats (46 total) FDP 18, CVP 16, SVP 4, SP 3, LPS 3, LdU 1,
Ticino League 1
There is a federal right for initiative and referendum. The procedure
for an initiative is as follows:
a) form a committee and compose the text of the proposed new law
b) try to find 100,000 signatures in less than 18[3] months
c) if you have them: deposit the initiative in the federal chancellery
d) the Federal Assembly either rejects or accepts the initiative (usually
based on a government proposal). In some cases the Assembly
introduces an alternative version.
e) on that basis, the federal chancellery sends a small information
booklet to each voter outlining the parliament's position on
the initiative and the arguments of the committee.
f) the people must vote on the initiative and on a possible
alternative.
Usually, the people vote in conformity with the position taken on
the issue by the Federal Assembly and Council. In rare instances,
the people vote against the explicit suggestions of the government; then,
however, the people are right :-)[2]
[1] In some Cantons, it is more right than center-right (e.g. Zuerich).
[2] In some rare and specific cases, some initiatives have been declared
invalid. Usually it is because the committee did not respect the unity
of content (i.e. do not mix up subjects demagogigally). One could argue
that the Parliament itself does usually not propose votes which
respect the unity of content.
[3] Referendum needs 50.000 in 3 months.
[4] In March 1993, the Federal Counciler Rene FELBER announced his
resignation. As he was SP, and because of the ``magic formula'', the
seat was implicitly reserved for SP, and possibly for a French-speaking
representative. Francis MATTHEY, a Neuchatel SP was elected (the
official candidate was Christiane BRUNNER, with almost no votes). The
President of the SP party, Peter BODENMANN and the feminists of the
SP Party declared that a woman was necessary and Francis MATTHEY was
forced to refuse its election, against the wishes of the Neuchatel
section's President (which was a woman, BTW). As it was clear that
Christiane BRUNNER would never be elected (not as a woman,
but as a person) and that SP could lose a seat, the SP party proposed
Ruth DREIFUSS, a lot more moderate. The problem was the
one-counciler-per-canton Constitutional rule. Ruth DREIFUSS promptly
officially established to Geneva to circumvent the rule. The
whole event has been presented by SP as being the great victory
for feminism. Strangely enough, feminist deputies from other
parties, and some from the SP Party, were not quite sure that this
dramatic ``mise-en-scene'' was necessary.
Continue to:
My Books
