National Council (Switzerland)

National Council

Logo of the Federal Assembly	Bundeshaus
Basic data
Seat:	Federal Palace in Bern
Legislative period :	four years
MPs:	200
Current legislative period
Last choice:	20th October 2019
Next choice:	October 22, 2023
Chair:	Isabelle Moret ( FDP )
Distribution of seats:	SVP 53 SP 39 FDP 29 GPS 28 CVP 25 glp 16 BDP 3 EPP 3 Lega 1 EDU 1 Sol 1 PdA 1
Website
National Council on parlament.ch

The National Council (abbreviated NR ; French Conseil national , CN ; Italian Consiglio nazionale ; Rhaeto-Romanic Cussegl naziunal ^{? / I} ) is the large chamber of the parliament of the Swiss Confederation with 200 members. It is chaired by Isabelle Moret ( FDP ).

The Council of States (small chamber) represents the cantons with 46 members.

Both chambers of parliament together form the Federal Assembly with its headquarters in Bern Federal Palace .

organization

National Council Chamber (winter session 2006)

With 200 members, the National Council forms the largest chamber of the parliamentary system.

When the federal state was founded in 1848, this number was not yet fixed, but was based on the population of the individual cantons. According to the requirements of the Federal Constitution at the time, a member of the National Council should represent 20,000 residents. Therefore, the first National Council, which met in 1848, had 111 members.

In 1963 the number of members of the National Council was finally set at 200. Since then, the allocation to the individual cantons has been based on the respective census results (including foreigners) using the Hare-Niemeyer method . A change in the distribution took place in 2003 following the results of the federal census from 2000. Even after that, changes in the allocation of seats were made from time to time. Each canton is entitled to at least one national councilor. A detailed table on the development of the number of seats per canton can be found below .

Canton National Councils  Zurich 35  Bern 25th  Vaud 18th  Aargau 16  St. Gallen 12  Geneva 11  Lucerne 10  Ticino 8th  Valais 8th  Basel-Country 7th  Freiburg 7th  Solothurn 6th  Thurgau 6th

Canton National Councils  Basel city 5  Grisons 5  Neuchâtel 4th  Schwyz 4th  train 3  Schaffhausen 2  law 2  Uri 1  Obwalden 1  Nidwalden 1  Glarus 1  Appenzell Ausserrhoden 1  Appenzell Innerrhoden 1

Electoral process

See also : List of Swiss National Council constituencies

The national councils are elected by the people every four years for a legislative period of four years; the last election took place on Sunday, October 20, 2019.

Voting share (party strength) National Council election on October 20, 2019

Turnout: 45.1%

 %

30th

20th

10

0

25.6

16.8

15.1

13.2

11.4

7.8

2.4

2.1

5.5

SVP

SP

FDP

GPS

CVP

glp

BDP

EPP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 2015

 % p

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

-3.8

-2.0

-1.3

+6.1

-0.2

+3.3

-1.7

+0.2

-0.6

SVP

SP

FDP

GPS

CVP

glp

BDP

EPP

Otherwise.

Elections have been made since 1919 after a corresponding popular initiative has been adopted by proportional representation , with each canton forming an electoral district. Each constituency forms a self-contained electoral area. There is no threshold clause, such as the so-called five percent hurdle that is common in Germany, for example , because in Switzerland the clearest possible parliamentary group strengths are not elementary in favor of forming governments. Since 1971 women can vote and be elected in national elections. Election day is every four years on the penultimate Sunday in October.

Since the modernization of the census and the use of administrative data to collect population figures (2007), the distribution of the number of seats across the cantons has been based on the permanent resident population (including those not entitled to vote) in the year following the last general election. The principle applies that every canton is entitled to at least one seat. The seats within the cantons with the right to more than one seat are allocated to Hare-Niemeyer . Cantons that can only send one representative to the National Council vote by majority vote , with the relative majority deciding.

During the elections, the parties in the cantons draw up lists of candidates. Each list contains a maximum of as many candidates as the canton has seats in the National Council. Each voter can vote as many people as his canton is entitled to national councilors: a resident of the canton of Zurich 35, a resident of the canton Uri only one.

It is possible to list one or more candidates twice. In addition, each party can run with several lists per canton (for example, men and women, youth and senior citizens, in larger cantons also city and country lists). A list connection between several different parties is also possible. The voters have the option of submitting the lists unchanged or of changing them by cumulating or variegating them. On the one hand, the voter can vote for a single candidate and leave the rest to his party. On the other hand, it is possible that the voter distributes the votes due to him to candidates from several parties.

Work of the National Council

The antechamber of the National Council hall

National Council Chamber during a session

The work and competencies of the National Council are regulated by the Federal Act on the Federal Assembly (Parliament Act) and the fifth title of the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation . The National Council and the Council of States form the Federal Assembly and exercise supreme power in Switzerland, subject to the rights of the people and the cantons. Both chambers are called councils. The National Council and the Council of States do not meet constantly, but meet regularly for sessions. As a rule, there are four sessions of three weeks each, with two to five meeting days per week. The spring session begins on the first Monday in March, the summer session on the first Monday in June, the autumn session after the Federal Prayer Day and the winter session on the last Monday in November. During the sessions the legislative proposals are debated; if the sessions are insufficient, a council can convene a special session for itself. In the case of special events (political crises, wars, etc.), a quarter of the members of a council or the Federal Council can request that an extraordinary session be called; both councils then meet at the same time. So far, the councils have met eight times for extraordinary sessions, which were usually requested by the social democratic group.

Extraordinary sessions of the Federal Parliament (National Council and Council of States)

date	Occasion / event
July 1891	Introduction of the banknote monopoly
February 6th and 7th, 1985	Measures against forest dieback
October 9-11, 1986	Energy policy after Chernobyl
January 22 and 23, 1998	Tax loopholes and mergers / economic policy (merger of UBS and SBV)
November 16, 2001	Swissair financing
October 3, 2002	Minimum interest rate BVG (" occupational pension plan ")
October 1, 2007	Tax issues
December 8, 2008	Financial crisis
May 4 to 8, 2020	COVID-19 pandemic

Distribution of seats

According to parties

	2011		2015
Political party	Seats	Share of voters in percent	Seats	Share of voters in percent
SVP	54	26.6	65	29.4
SP	46	18.7	43	18.8
FDP	30th	15.1	33	16.4
CVP	28	12.3	27	11.6
GPS	15th	8.4	11	7.1
GLP	12	5.4	7th	4.6
BDP	9	5.4	7th	4.1
EPP	2	2.0	2	1.9
Lega	2	0.8	2	1.0
PdA / Sol	-	0.9	1	0.8
CSP OW	1	0.4	1	0.4
MCR	1	0.4	1	0.3

In the constituencies, seats are again allocated according to the Hagenbach-Bischoff procedure . First of all, it is not the number of votes in the individual lists but those of the list connections that are taken into account. Only after all seats to be allocated in the constituency have been allocated to the individual list connections in proportion to the votes, the seats won within the list connections to the individual lists will again be subdivided to Hagenbach-Bischoff.

The candidates are elected on the party lists according to the number of votes received. Subsequent realignments by the party headquarters in order to secure the entry into the National Council for candidates considered important are not possible. A member of the National Council cannot be voted out or excluded. The early dissolution of the National Council is also not provided for in the constitution. The entire Federal Assembly (National Council and Council of States) will only be dissolved and re-elected in the event of a total revision of the Federal Constitution by the people.

In 1995, after a long phase of party political stability, polarization began in the Swiss party system. Above all, it brought the SVP more votes. At the same time, various parties disappeared at the national level with the Freedom Party or the Landesring. Since the parties at the poles were strengthened, one often speaks of polarization or bipolarization.

See also : Proportion of women in the National Council from 1971

Historical course of the share of the vote of the individual parties

According to cantons

Development of the number of seats
The table below shows how many seats the cantons have been entitled to over the years. Up to and including 2011, the results of the censuses , which take place every ten years, were decisive; from 2015 the population registers will be used for distribution.

Canton	1848	1851- 1860	1863- 1869	1872- 1878	1881- 1887	1890- 1899	1902- 1908	1911- 1919	1922- 1928	1931- 1939	1943- 1947	1951- 1959	1963– 1967	1971- 1979	1983- 1987	1991- 1999	2003– 2011	2015	2019
Aargau	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	13	13	14th	14th	15th	15th	16	16
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1
Appenzell Innerrhoden	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Basel-Country	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	4th	4th	4th	4th	4th	5	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th
Basel city	1	1	2	2	3	4th	6th	7th	7th	7th	8th	8th	8th	7th	6th	6th	5	5	5
Bern	20th	23	23	25th	27	27	29	32	34	31	33	33	33	31 a	29	27	26th	25th	24
Freiburg	5	5	5	6th	6th	6th	6th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	6th	6th	6th	6th	7th	7th	7th
Geneva	3	3	4th	4th	5	5	7th	8th	9	8th	8th	8th	10	11	11	11	11	11	12
Glarus	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Grisons	4th	4th	5	5	5	5	5	6th	6th	6th	6th	6th	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
law														2 b	2	2	2	2	2
Lucerne	6th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	8th	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	9
Neuchâtel	3	4th	4th	5	5	5	6th	7th	7th	6th	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4th	4th
Nidwalden	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Obwalden	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Schaffhausen	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Schwyz	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4th	4th	4th
Solothurn	3	3	3	4th	4th	4th	5	6th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	6th	6th
St. Gallen	8th	8th	9	10	10	11	13	15th	15th	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	12	12	12
Ticino	6th	6th	6th	6th	7th	6th	7th	8th	8th	7th	7th	7th	7th	8th	8th	8th	8th	8th	8th
Thurgau	4th	4th	5	5	5	5	6th	7th	7th	6th	6th	6th	6th	6th	6th	6th	6th	6th	6th
Uri	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Vaud	9	10	11	11	12	12	14th	16	16	15th	16	16	16	16	17th	17th	18th	18th	19th
Valais	4th	4th	5	5	5	5	6th	6th	6th	6th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	7th	8th	8th
train	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3
Zurich	12	13	13	14th	16	17th	22nd	25th	27	28	31	32	35	35	35	34	34	35	35
Switzerland	111	120	128	135	145	147	167	189	198	187	194	196	200	200	200	200	200	200	200

^a 1979 two seats were transferred from the canton of Bern to the newly founded canton of Jura
^b the canton of Jura received two seats from the canton of Bern in 1979

Population represented by a seat Based on
the distribution key according to permanent resident population, a National Council represents an average of 0.5% of the resident population in Switzerland. In 2012, the decisive year for the 2015 elections, this value was 40,195 (permanent resident population 8,039,060 as of December 31, 2012). Due to the discreet distribution among cantons and the clause that each canton is entitled to at least one seat, this number varies from canton to canton, between 15,717 (Appenzell Innerrhoden) and 53,438 (Appenzell Ausserrhoden). With the exception of the extreme values ​​in Appenzell, the population represented per seat is between 35,471 and 43,638 inhabitants, i.e. H. from −11.8% below to + 8.6% above average. The number of persons entitled to vote per National Council seat (with 5,124,034 people in the 2011 election, an average of 25,620) in the 2011 elections (with the exception of Appenzell) was between 21,830 (Geneva with an above-average proportion of foreigners) and 27 ' 459 (Bern) people, or –14.8% to + 7.2% deviation from the average.

Canton	2011 elections (resident population at the end of 2009)					2015 elections (resident population at the end of 2012)
	Seats	Resident population	Population per seat	Eligible voters	Eligible voters per seat	Seats	Resident population	Population per seat
Zurich	34 ▬	1 406 083	41 355	877 817	25 818	35 ▲	1 408 575	40 245
Bern	26 ▼	985 046	37 886	713 938	27 459	25 ▼	992 617	39 705
Lucerne	10 ▬	381 966	38 197	260 101	26 010	10 ▬	386 082	38 608
Uri	1 ▬	35 382	35 382	26 110	26 110	1 ▬	35 693	35 693
Schwyz	4 ▲	147 904	36 976	98 193	24 548	4 ▬	149 830	37 458
Obwalden	1 ▬	35 878	35 878	25 221	25 221	1 ▬	36 115	36 115
Nidwalden	1 ▬	41 311	41 311	30 363	30 363	1 ▬	41 584	41 584
Glarus	1 ▬	39 217	39 217	26 078	26 078	1 ▬	39 369	39 369
train	3 ▬	113 597	37 866	71 845	23 948	3 ▬	116 575	38 858
Freiburg	7 ▲	284 668	40 667	185 485	26 498	7 ▬	291 395	41 628
Solothurn	7 ▬	259 836	37 119	173 356	24 765	6 ▼	259 283	43 214
Basel city	5 ▼	194 090	38 818	114 064	22 813	5 ▬	187 425	37 485
Basel-Country	7 ▬	277 973	39 710	186 806	26 687	7 ▬	276 537	39 505
Schaffhausen	2 ▬	77 139	38 570	49 783	24 892	2 ▬	77 955	38 978
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	1 ▼	53 313	53 313	37 678	37 678	1 ▬	53 438	53 438
Appenzell Innerrhoden	1 ▬	15 789	15 789	11 358	11 358	1 ▬	15 717	15 717
St. Gallen	12 ▬	483 101	40 258	311 495	25 958	12 ▬	487 060	40 588
Grisons	5 ▬	193 388	38 678	135 141	27 028	5 ▬	193 920	38 784
Aargau	15 ▬	624 681	41 645	399 092	26 606	16 ▲	627 340	39 209
Thurgau	6 ▬	254 528	42 421	160 453	26 742	6 ▬	256 213	42 702
Ticino	8 ▬	336 943	42 118	212 103	26 513	8 ▬	341 652	42 707
Vaud	18 ▲	725 944	40 330	410 956	22 831	18 ▬	734 356	40 798
Valais	7 ▬	317 022	45 289	205 917	25 739	8 ▲	321 732	40 217
Neuchâtel	5 ▬	173 183	34 637	109 926	21 985	4 ▼	174 554	43 638
Geneva	11 ▬	472 530	42 957	240 126	21 830	11 ▬	463 101	42 100
law	2 ▬	70 542	35 271	50 629	25 315	2 ▬	70 942	35 471

Competencies

From a constitutional point of view, the two chambers of the National Council and the Council of States have completely equal rights - a decision is only valid if it is passed in the same version by both chambers. All matters are dealt with in turn by both councils. The council chairpersons jointly determine which council deals with a business first («first council»).

If the National Council and the Council of States cannot agree on a common text after the first discussion, a difference adjustment procedure takes place, whereby the business shuttles back and forth between the two councils. After three unsuccessful rounds, the unification conference must come on the scene. Further explanations on this procedure: Legislative procedure (Switzerland) .

The National Council elects the National Council President , who chairs the meetings of the National Council and the United Federal Assembly for one year at a time . Because the Federal Assembly exercises “supreme power in the Confederation” (Art. 148 Paragraph 1 BV), he is considered the “highest Swiss”. In the context of international relations (e.g. state visits), however, the Federal President takes first place in terms of protocol because, according to the Federal Constitution, the Federal Council represents Switzerland externally (Art. 184 para. 1 BV): Protocol-based hierarchy in Switzerland .

Commissions

→ Main article : Federal Assembly (Switzerland) #Commissions and their sub-commissions and delegations

compensation

The compensation of deputies is regulated in parliament Resources Act, supplemented by the Parliament Resource Regulation. The law was last amended in June 2012.

A member of the National Council receives an annual income of CHF 26,000 plus daily allowances of CHF 440 per meeting day. The reimbursement of expenses amounts to CHF 33,000 per year plus meal allowances of CHF 115 per day and accommodation allowances of CHF 180 per day. There are also various remuneration. For example, each parliamentarian is entitled to a general ticket of the first class of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), or the value thereof as lump-sum compensation for traveling locally. If you arrive by car, the parking fee will be reimbursed. Damage to these vehicles that occurs while driving to Bern and back to the place of residence is also paid for by the federal government.

In 2010, the sum of these compensations and allowances averaged CHF 133,000.

Seating arrangements for the National Council in the 2019/20 office year according to parliamentary group

Members

→ Main article : List of members of the Swiss National Council

Meeting minutes

Workplaces for recording speeches in the National Council and Council of States; Due to the renovation of the Bundeshaus, the workplaces were relocated from the Parliament building to the East Bundeshaus.

Cover of a printed copy of the bulletin

The verbatim minutes of the National Council are published in the Official Bulletin of the Federal Assembly. From 1891, plenary debates on decrees capable of referendums were written down on paper and published as "Official stenographic bulletin". From 1960 onwards, council negotiations were taped and stenographers were replaced by editors. In 1963 the verbatim protocols were renamed "Official Bulletin". From the 1990s, electronic aids were increasingly used. The protocols have been published on the Internet since 1995 and on CD-ROM since 1997.

The annual subscription to the printed version of the Official Bulletin with the four Council Sessions is sold by the Official Bulletin Service of the Federal Assembly for CHF 95.

Working languages

The debates in the National Council are in German, French and Italian simultaneously translated . If necessary, the National Councilors can listen to what has been said in their seats over headphones in translation. The interpreters in the National Council belong to the so-called language service of the Parliamentary Services of the Federal Assembly. In the Council of States, however, there is no translation.

National Council Chamber

The National Council Chamber serves not only for the Assembly of the National Council but also for the Assembly of the United Federal Assembly . The Council of States take their places, which are under their cantonal coats of arms on the back wall of the hall. In addition to the parliamentary sessions, the annual meetings of the Federal Youth Session have also taken place in the National Council Chamber since 1991 . The administrative delegation is responsible for the use of the parliament building, which can be made available for events “of national or international importance”. Organizations with a parliamentary character can be allowed to hold an extraordinary meeting in a council chamber of the Federal Palace. Non-political organizations must not be given a “prestigious” platform. In 2019, a panel discussion on social issues took place in the hall as part of Women's Day.

Seating arrangements

After the parliamentarians of the National Council had initially sat grouped by language, Leo Schürmann proposed a new seating arrangement in the 1960s ; For better cooperation in the parliamentary groups, he wanted a different seating arrangement, which was not regulated until 1974 "according to group membership and language" and "if possible, according to personal wishes". It was not until 1995 that the seating arrangement was only drawn up taking into account the parliamentary group.

Trivia

During the anniversary session in 1991, the play Hercules and the Stable of Augiah by Friedrich Dürrenmatt was performed in the National Council Chamber.

Web links

Commons : National Council (Switzerland)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The National Council on the website of the Federal Assembly
• Federal elections on October 18, 2015 - How many seats in the National Council do the cantons have? on the ch.ch website

Individual evidence

1. ^ The first Swiss National Council, 1849/50
2. ^ The first Swiss National Council 1849, 1850/51
3. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: National Council Development of Party Strengths . Retrieved October 21, 2019.
4. ↑ Federal Act on Political Rights ( SR 161.1 ), Art. 16 ¹ “Allocation of seats to the cantons”, in force since January 1, 2008.
5. ↑ Art. 148 BV
6. ↑ Art. 151 BV
7. ↑ parlament.ch: Fact sheet on the sessions (PDF, 77 kB) - Attention: Start the download immediately. ( Memento from October 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ ^{a b} Art. 2 ParlG
9. ↑ Press release by Parliament of March 26th on the holding of the Extraordinary Session.
10. ↑ Swiss parliamentary elections 2011
11. ↑ Swiss parliamentary elections 2015
12. ^ Federal Statistical Office: Party strengths
13. ↑ various editions of the Federal Gazette
14. ^ Erich Gruner: The elections in the Swiss National Council 1848-1919 . tape 3 . Francke Verlag, Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1445-3 .
15. ↑ Press release from the Federal Chancellery on "Changes to the distribution of seats among the cantons for the 2019 National Council elections"
16. ↑ Lukas Leuzinger: Population development: How the weights in the National Council are likely to shift in the medium term In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of August 30, 2017
17. ↑ National Council elections 2011: Eligible voters, voters, turnout (bfs.admin.ch) ( Memento from November 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
18. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Permanent and non-permanent resident population by year, canton and type of population . Retrieved October 19, 2015.
19. ↑ Parliamentary Resources Act (PDF; 116 kB)
20. ↑ Parliamentary Resource Ordinance (PDF; 118 kB)
21. ↑ This is how much a federal politician earns (at least) , Blick-Online, August 9, 2011
22. ↑ Tasks of the Parliamentary Services - Language Service ( Memento of 23 September 2010 in the Internet Archive ), parlament.ch, accessed: 24 September 2010
23. ↑ Switzerland Facts - A Brief Political and Regional History ( Memento from September 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), bundeshaus-radio.ch, accessed: September 24, 2010
24. ^ Languages ​​in Switzerland , swissinfo.ch, April 12, 2010
25. ^ Above the heads of parliamentarians , swissinfo.ch, September 26, 2003
26. ^ Admission of meetings of non-federal parliamentary organizations in the Federal Palace , Office of the National Council February 21, 2001
27. ↑ INVITATION TO THE PUBLIC PANEL TALK IN THE NATIONAL COUNCIL HALL: «PROFESSIONS: WOMEN CAN DO EVERYTHING» The Federal Assembly
28. ↑ The Confederation, Parliament and the Chairs , Swiss Federal Archives, accessed on March 26, 2020
29. ↑ REVIEW OF THE 43rd LEGISLATURE PERIOD OF THE FEDERAL COUNCILS , Documentation Center of the Federal Assembly