View source for Executive Council of Bern

{{Politics of Switzerland}}
{{Short description|Executive body of the Swiss canton of Bern}}{{update|date=March 2018}}
The '''Executive Council''' ({{langx|de|Regierungsrat}}, {{langx|fr|Conseil-éxecutif}}) is the [[List of cantonal executives of Switzerland|executive]] of the [[Cantons of Switzerland|Swiss canton]] of [[Canton of Bern|Bern]].

This seven-member [[Collegiality|collegial body]] is elected by the people for a period of four years. The cantonal constitution reserves one seat in the Executive Council for a French-speaking citizen from the [[Bernese Jura]]. The presidency, by convention, rotates annually and the position is largely that of a ''[[primus inter pares]]''.

== Current composition ==
As of 2025, the Executive Council was composed as follows:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Die Mitglieder des Regierungsrates |url=https://www.rr.be.ch/rr/de/index/der_regierungsrat/der_regierungsrat.html |access-date=23 June 2025 |website=Kanton Bern |language=de}}</ref>
* President of the Council [[Christoph Neuhaus]], [[Swiss People's Party|SVP/UDC]]: Director of Public Works and Transport
* Vice President of the Council [[Christoph Ammann]], [[Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz|SP/PS]]: Director of Economic Affairs, Energy and the Environment
* Executive Councillor [[Evi Alleman]], [[Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz|SP/PS]]: Director of Home Affairs and Justice
* Executive Councillor [[Astrid Bärtschi]], [[The Centre (political party)|The Centre]]: Director of Finance
* Executive Councillor [[Christine Häsler]], [[Green Party of Switzerland|GPS/PES]]: Director of Education and Culture
* Executive Councillor [[Philippe Müller]], [[FDP. The Liberals|FDP/PLR]]: Director of Security
* Executive Councillor [[Pierre Alain Schnegg]], [[Swiss People's Party|SVP/UDC]]: Director of Health, Social Affairs and Integration

* State Chancellor [[Christoph Auer]]: State Chancellory (''chief of staff with no vote in the Council'')

== 2006 Executive Council elections ==
The 2006 Executive Council elections occurred on April 9. While Councillors Egger, Gasche and Luginbühl ran for re-election (which they achieved easily), Councillors Andres, Annoni, Bhend and Zölch resigned, leaving the field unusually wide open.

The SVP, long the dominant party in Bern, unexpectedly made an attempt to seize control of the Council by fielding four candidates instead of the usual three. The parties left of center criticised this move as contrary to the tradition of [[Concordance system|concordance]] government. Despite the [[majority voting]] procedure and its alliance with the FDP, the SVP failed to attain its goal, losing one seat to the Social Democrats instead. As the FDP also lost one seat to the Greens, the governmental majority changed to the Left.

Together with the FDP, the parties [[Right-wing|right of center]] (usually referred to in Bern as ''bürgerlich'', i.e., [[bourgeois]]) had slated six candidates:

* Urs Gasche, SVP (re-elected)
* Werner Luginbühl, SVP (re-elected)
* [[Hans-Jürg Käser]], FDP (elected)
* [[Monique Jametti Greiner]], SVP (not elected)
* [[Annelise Vaucher]], SVP (for the [[Bernese Jura]] seat, not elected)
* [[Eva Desarzens]], FDP (not elected)

The parties [[left-wing|left of center]], in turn, had agreed on a slate of four candidates:

* Barbara Egger-Jenzer, SP (re-elected)
* [[Philippe Perrenoud]], SP (for the Bernese Jura seat, elected)
* [[Andreas Rickenbacher]], SP (elected)
* [[Bernhard Pulver]], [[Green Party of Switzerland|GFL]] (elected)

The [https://web.archive.org/web/20060411041244/http://www.sta.be.ch/site/index/sta-startseite/wahlenabstimmungen/wahlenabstimmungen-wahlen06/wahlenabstimmungen-wahlen06-regierungsrat.htm other candidates], fielded by minor parties or groups (different Christian parties, nationalists, French-speaking quasi-separatists, joke parties) were never considered to have a substantial chance of winning a Council seat.

''Source:'' [http://be.ch/wahlen Official 2006 elections website]

== 2010 Executive Council elections ==
The 2010 election on March 28 was the first without pre-printed block lists. Given this and the rather surprising left-wing win in 2006, it was widely questioned whether the Social Democrats and the Greens could hold their majority.

Urs Gasche, who had switched to the newly founded [[Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland|Conservative Democratic Party]], did not run for re-election. His party defended their seat with Beatrice Simon. The SVP sought to regain two seats with re-elected Christoph Neuhaus and first-time candidate Albert Rösti, who scored eighth and was therefore not elected.

For the FDP, Hans-Jürg Käser successfully ran for re-election, while Sylvain Astier, who contested the Jura seat, lost to Philippe Perrenoud.

On the left, Barbara Egger-Jenzer, Andreas Rickenbacher, Philippe Perrenoud (all Social Democrats) and Bernhard Pulver (Greens) were re-elected, retaining the left-wing's control over the executive. Except for Philippe Perrenoud, who defended the Jura seat, they scored the best results.

Several candidates of minor parties, including Jurassian separatist [[Maxime Zuber]] ([[Parti Socialiste Autonome]]) and [[Marc Jost]] ([[Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland|EVP]]) were unsuccessful.

== See also ==
* The ''city'' of [[Bern]] also has an executive council, the ''Gemeinderat'', as its government.
* The operation and customs of the Executive Council are very similar to that of the [[Swiss Federal Council]], the national government.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{HDS|10243|Cantonal governments}}

== External links ==
All links are in German and French, unless otherwise noted.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040405022120/http://www.be.ch/rr/ Official website of the Executive Council of Bern]
* Websites for the [https://web.archive.org/web/20060218161651/http://www.sta.be.ch/grw02/ 2002] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20060303125409/http://www.sta.be.ch/site/wahlenabstimmungen-wahlen06 2006] Executive Council elections

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[[Category:Canton of Bern]]
[[Category:Cantonal executives of Switzerland|Bern]]