Overview
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Parliament
Das Bild zeigt Menschen in der Eingangshalle des Parlamentsgebäudes: Die meisten blicken nach oben, um die Kuppel anzuschauen.

Parliament

Parliament passes laws and elects the members of the federal government and the federal courts. It is responsible for the federal budget and exercises oversight over the Federal Administration. Parliament is elected by the People. It consists of two chambers: the National Council and the Council of States. The National Council represents the people of Switzerland; the Council of States represents the 26 cantons. Each chamber has the same powers, and they conduct the same business. When sitting together in joint session, they constitute the United Federal Assembly.

Members in the National Council and the Council of States

200 members of the National Council, 46 members of the Council of States

Strength of parliamentary groups

A pie chart shows the breakdown of the National Council into six parliamentary groups. The SVP is the strongest group with 55 members. The SP is the second largest group with 39 members. The Centre group has 31 members; the Greens, 30 members; and the FDP, 29 members. The smallest group is the Green Liberals with 16 members. Another pie chart shows the breakdown of the Council of States into five parliamentary groups. The strongest groups are the Centre group with 14 members and the FDP with 12 members. The SP has 8 members, the SVP, 7 members; and the Greens, 5 members.

Women and men in Parliament

Another bar chart shows the representation of women and men in the National Council and the Council of States since 1972. It clearly shows that there are significantly fewer women in both Councils even though the proportion of women has increased.

Age groups in the Swiss population and in Parliament

A bar chart shows the age distribution of members of Parliament and among the Swiss population. It shows that two age groups are clearly underrepresented in Parliament: namely those under 30 and those over 70. On the other hand, those between 50 and 59 are strongly overrepresented.

The home of Swiss political life
The seat of Switzerland’s parliament is the Parliament Building in Bern. It was built between 1894 and 1902 according to plans drawn up by Hans Wilhelm Auer, and was inaugurated on 1 April 1902 by the United Federal Assembly.

The architect had the aim of creating a national monument. 95% of the materials used were sourced within Switzerland; contracts were awarded to 173 Swiss firms, while 38 Swiss artists were able to leave their mark in the Parliament Building for posterity. Naturally, Auer was careful to ensure that all of the cantons were represented when awarding the contracts.

The whole building is a reminder that Switzerland is a nation founded on the will of its people, in which different cultures, different linguistic areas and different geographical regions have come together of their own free will to form a political, national entity.

www.parliament.ch