View source for Federal Assembly (Switzerland)

{{Short description|Bicameral legislature of Switzerland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{Expand French|topic=gov|Assemblée fédérale (Suisse)|date=August 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox legislature
|background_color = #000000
|name = Federal Assembly
|native_name = {{Plainlist|
* {{native name|de|Bundesversammlung}}
* {{native name|fr|Assemblée fédérale}}
* {{native name|it|Assemblea federale}}
* {{native name|rm|Assamblea federala}}
}}
|coa_pic = Swiss Council Logo.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
|coa_res = 100px
|house_type = Bicameral
|houses = [[Council of States (Switzerland)|Council of States]] <br /> [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]]
|leader2_type = President of the Council of States
|leader2 = [[Andrea Caroni]]
|party2 = [[The Liberals (Switzerland)|FDP/PLR]]
|leader1_type = President of the National Council
|leader1 = [[Maja Riniker]]
|party1 = [[The Liberals (Switzerland)|FDP/PLR]]
|structure2 = Conseil des Etats Suisse 2023.svg
|structure2_res = 200px
|structure1 = File:Conseil National Suisse 2023.svg
|structure1_res = 200px
|members = '''246'''<br />46 [[Council of States of Switzerland|Council of States]]<br />200 [[National Council of Switzerland|National Council]]
|house2 = {{nowrap|[[Council of States of Switzerland|Council of States]]}}
|political_groups2 =
: {{Color box|{{party color|The Centre (political party)}}|border=darkgray}} [[The Centre (political party)|The Centre]] 15
: {{Color box|{{party color|FDP.The Liberals}}|border=darkgray}} [[The Liberals (Switzerland)|FDP/PLR]] 11
: {{Color box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|SP/PS]] 9
: {{Color box|{{party color|Swiss People's Party}}|border=darkgray}} [[Swiss People's Party|SVP/UDC]] 6
: {{Color box|{{party color|Green Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} [[Green Party of Switzerland|Greens]] 3
: {{Color box|{{party color|Green Liberal Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} [[Green Liberal Party of Switzerland|GLP/PVL]] 1
: {{Color box|{{party color|Geneva Citizens' Movement}}|border=darkgray}} [[Geneva Citizens' Movement|MCG]] 1

|house1 = [[National Council of Switzerland|National Council]]
|political_groups1 =
: {{Color box|{{party color|Swiss People's Party}}|border=darkgray}} [[Swiss People's Party|SVP/UDC]] 62
: {{Color box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|SP/PS]] 41
: {{Color box|{{party color|The Centre (political party)}}|border=darkgray}} [[The Centre (political party)|The Centre]]  29
: {{Color box|{{party color|FDP.The Liberals}}|border=darkgray}} [[The Liberals (Switzerland)|FDP/PLR]] 28
: {{Color box|{{party color|Green Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} [[Green Party of Switzerland|Greens]] 23
: {{Color box|{{party color|Green Liberal Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} [[Green Liberal Party of Switzerland|GLP/PVL]] 10
: {{Color box|{{party color|Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} [[Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland|EvP/PEV]] 2
: {{Color box|{{party color|Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland}}|border=darkgray}} [[Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland|EDU/UDF]] 2
: {{Color box|{{party color|Geneva Citizens' Movement}}|border=darkgray}} [[Geneva Citizens' Movement|MCG]] 2
: {{Color box|{{party color|Ticino League}}|border=darkgray}} [[Ticino League|LT]] 1

|last_election1 = [[2023 Swiss federal election|22 October 2023]]
|last_election2 = [[2023 Swiss federal election|October–November 2023]]
|session_room = File:Bundeshaus_Bern_2009,_Flooffy.jpg
|session_res = 250px
|meeting_place = [[Federal Palace of Switzerland]], [[Bern]]
|website = {{URL|http://www.parliament.ch}}
}}

The '''Federal Assembly''',<ref>({{langx|de|Bundesversammlung}} {{IPA|de|ˈbʊndəsfɛɐˌzamlʊŋ||De-Bundesversammlung.ogg}}; {{langx|fr|Assemblée fédérale}} {{IPA|fr|asɑ̃ble fedeʁal|}}; {{langx|it|Assemblea federale}} {{IPA|it|assemˈblɛːa fedeˈraːle|}}; {{langx|rm|Assamblea federala}})</ref> also known as the '''Swiss Parliament''', is the federal [[bicameralism|bicameral]] parliament<ref>(''Parlament'', ''Parlement'', ''Parlamento'')</ref>   of [[Switzerland]]. It comprises the 200-seat [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]] and the 46-seat [[Council of States (Switzerland)|Council of States]]. It meets in [[Bern]] in the [[Federal Palace of Switzerland|Federal Palace]].

The [[Legislative chamber|houses]] have identical powers. Members of both houses represent the [[Cantons of Switzerland|cantons]], but, whereas seats in the National Council are distributed in proportion to population, each canton has two seats in the Council of States, except the six '[[half-canton]]s', which have one seat each. Both are elected in full once every four years, with the [[2023 Swiss federal election|last election]] being held in 2023.

The Federal Assembly possesses the federal government's [[legislature|legislative power]], along with the separate constitutional right of [[Popular initiative|citizen's initiative]]. For a law to pass, it must be passed by both houses. The two houses may come together as a [[United Federal Assembly]] in certain circumstances, such as to elect the [[Swiss Federal Council|Federal Council]] (the [[head of government]] and [[head of state|state]]), the [[Federal Chancellor of Switzerland|Federal Chancellor]], the [[Federal courts of Switzerland|federal judges]] or (only in times of great national danger) a [[General (Switzerland)|general]].

== History ==
Prior to the establishment of the [[Switzerland as a federal state|federal state]] in 1848, the only central organ of [[Switzerland]] was the Federal Diet (''[[Tagsatzung]]''). Following the [[Sonderbund War]] in 1847, the ''Tagsatzung'' became responsible for drawing up the [[Swiss Federal Constitution]].<ref name="DHS">{{cite web |last1=Graf |first1=Martin |last2=Martin |first2=Pierre-G. |title=Assemblée fédérale |url=https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/010081/2015-12-02/ |website=Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse |access-date=23 April 2022 |language=German |date=2 December 2015}}</ref>

The process of formulating [[legislature|legislative power]] resulted in clashing opinions, in particular in relation to the representation of the various cantons: the [[Free Democratic Party of Switzerland|radicals]], in the majority in the largest [[cantons of Switzerland|cantons]], pushed for a system where representation was purely proportional to the population of each township; the small cantons, for their part, feared being marginalized.  After long debates, a compromise was found by adopting the American model of [[bicameralism]]; the parliament will be composed of two chambers with equal power, and the agreement of both will be required to take a decision. The [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]], which represents the people, will comprise representatives from each canton with their distribution being proportional to the population of the cantons, while the [[Council of States (Switzerland)|Council of States]], which represents the cantons, will be composed of the same number of representatives from each canton. According to the [[Switzerland as a federal state#1848 Constitution|Constitution of 1848]], the Federal Assembly is "the supreme authority of the Confederation".<ref name="DHS"/>

The ''Tagsatzung'' accepted the draft constitution in June 1848. On September 12, following the vote of the various cantons, it noted that the Constitution had been approved and dissolved itself on September 22, as required by the transitional provisions of the approved text. During the month of October 1848, elections were organized in the cantons in order to elect the deputies. After a few skirmishes, particularly in the canton of Fribourg, the results were announced which confirmed the victory of the radicals, who won more than three-quarters of the seats in the National Council and 30 of the 44 seats in the Council of States. On, November 16, 1848, Parliament elected the first Federal Council.<ref name="DHS"/> In 1874, following the revision of the Constitution and the introduction of extended popular rights, the Federal Assembly became "the supreme authority of the Confederation subject to the rights of the people and the cantons".<ref name="DHS"/>

The organization of the two councils has changed little over time. When the National Council was created, the total number of seats was 111.<ref name="DHS"/> This number was not fixed and evolved in proportion to the growth of the Swiss population until 1962 when the definitive number of seats was established at 200; the term of office, meanwhile, was increased from the original three years to four years in 1931. The mode of election, originally according to the majority system, transitioned to [[proportional representation]] in 1918.<ref>{{cite web |title=Initiative populaire 'Election proportionnelle du Conseil national' |url=https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/f/pore/vi/vis12.html |website=Chancellerie fédérale ChF |access-date=23 April 2022}}</ref> The Council of States, meanwhile, was not modified until 1979, by adding two new seats for the [[Canton of Jura]] which had just been created.<ref name="DHS"/>

==Composition==
The Federal Assembly is made up of two chambers:
*the [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]], with 200 seats; and
*the [[Council of States (Switzerland)|Council of States]], with 46 councillors.

Seats in the [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]] are allocated to the [[Cantons of Switzerland|cantons]] proportionally, based on [[population]]. In the [[Council of States (Switzerland)|Council of States]], every [[Canton (country subdivision)|canton]] has two seats (except for the former "half-cantons", which have one seat each).

===United Federal Assembly<!--'United Federal Assembly' redirects here-->===
{{Anchor|United Federal Assembly}}On occasions the two houses sit jointly as the "'''United Federal Assembly'''"<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> ({{langx|de|Vereinigte Bundesversammlung}}; {{langx|fr|Assemblée fédérale, Chambres réunies}}; {{langx|it|Assemblea federale plenaria}}; {{langx|rm|Assamblea federala plenara}}). This is done to:
* elect members of the [[Swiss Federal Council|Federal Council]], the [[Federal Chancellor of Switzerland|Federal Chancellor]], the [[Federal courts of Switzerland|federal judges]] or (only in times of great national danger) a [[General (Switzerland)|general]]
* arbitrate in the event of conflicts between [[Federal government|federal]] authorities;
* issue [[pardon]]s; or
* listen to special announcements

The United Federal Assembly is presided by the [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]]'s presidency.

The Federal Assembly also confirms the appointment of the [[Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner]] (appointed by the [[Swiss Federal Council|Federal Council]]).<ref>[https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified-compilation/19920153/index.html Federal Act on Data Protection of 19 June 1992 (status as of 1 January 2014)], [[Federal Chancellery of Switzerland]] (page visited on 18 September 2016).</ref>

==Groups==
{{Politics of Switzerland}}
Parties can cooperate in ''parliamentary groups'', also called [[political group]]s, allowing smaller parties access to rights as part of a [[caucus]]. At least five members from the same Council are needed to form a group. Only informal groups exist in the [[Council of States (Switzerland)|Council of States]]. Members of the [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]] are required to be in a formal group in order to be able to sit on a committee.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.parlament.ch/en/organe/groupes |title=Parliamentary groups |website=Federal Assembly |language=en-US |access-date=2019-12-11 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Since March 2009, there have been six groups in the Federal Assembly.
The latest group to form was the [[Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland|Conservative Democratic Party]] which split off the Swiss People's Party in 2008.
The [[Christian Democrats/EPP/glp Group]] (CEg) was formed after the 2007 elections, out of the former Christian Democratic (C) and EPP (E) groups.
The current FTP/Liberal group (RL) was formed in 2003 out of the former FDP (R) and Liberal (L) groups; since the 2009 fusion of the [[Free Democratic Party of Switzerland|Free Democratic]] and [[Liberal Party of Switzerland|Liberal]] Parties, RL is once again a single-party group. In 2011, the CEg was disbanded, the Green Liberals formed their own parliamentary group (GL) and the three Christian parties formed the Christian-Evangelical Group (CE).

=== 51st legislature (2019–2023) ===

Currently (for the legislative period of 2019–2023), the six parliamentary groups are composed as follows:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Group
! colspan=2| Parties
! [[National Council (Switzerland)|NC]]
! [[Council of States (Switzerland)|CS]]
! Total
|-
| rowspan=4| People's parliamentary group (V)
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Swiss People's Party}}" |
| [[Swiss People's Party]]
| 53
| 6
| rowspan=4| 62
|-
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Ticino League}}" |
| [[Ticino League]]
| 1
| 0
|-
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Federal Democratic Union}}" |
| [[Federal Democratic Union]]
| 1
| 0
|-
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Independent (politician)}}" |
| [[Independent (politician)|Independent]]
| 0
| 1
|-
| Social Democrats parliamentary group (S)
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}" |
| [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|Social Democratic Party]]
| 39
| 8
| 47
|-
| rowspan=3| Centre parliamentary group CVP-EVP-BDP (M-CEB)
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland}}" |
| [[Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland|Christian Democratic People's Party]]
| 25
| 14
| rowspan=3| 45
|-
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland}}" |
| [[Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland|Conservative Democratic Party]]
| 3
| 0
|-
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland}}" |
| [[Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland|Evangelical People's Party]]
| 3
| 0
|-
| FDP.The Liberals parliamentary group (RL)
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|FDP.The Liberals}}" |
| [[FDP.The Liberals]]
| 29
| 12
| 41
|-
| rowspan=3| Green parliamentary group (G)
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Green Party of Switzerland}}" |
| [[Green Party of Switzerland|Green Party]]
| 28
| 5
| rowspan=3| 35
|-
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Swiss Party of Labour}}" |
| [[Swiss Party of Labour]]
| 1
| 0
|-
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|solidaritéS}}" |
| [[solidaritéS|Solidarity]]
| 1
| 0
|-
| rowspan=1| Green Liberal parliamentary group (GL)
| width=5px style="background-color: {{party color|Green Liberal Party of Switzerland}}" |
| [[Green Liberal Party of Switzerland|Green Liberal Party]]
| 16
| 0
| 16
|}

=== 50th legislature (2015–2019) ===
After the [[2015 Swiss federal election|2015 federal election]], the Federal Assembly was composed of 7 groups:<ref>{{cite web |title=Les groupes parlementaires de l'Assemblée fédérale depuis la 46e législature |url=https://www.parlament.ch/fr/%C3%BCber-das-parlament/archive/archive-groupes |website=Federal Assembly |access-date=2022-09-11}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:125%; font-size:95%;"
! colspan=3 | Group
! Parties
! [[National Council (Switzerland)|NC]]
! [[Council of States (Switzerland)|CS]]
! Total
! President
|-
| {{party color cell|Swiss People's Party}}
| V
| [[Swiss People's Party group]]<br>{{small|Fraktion der Schweizerischen Volkspartei}}<br>{{small|Groupe de l'Union Démocratique du Centre}}
| [[Swiss People's Party|SVP/UDC]] (69), [[Ticino League|Lega]] (2), [[Romandy Citizens' Movement|MCR]] (1), [[Independent politician|Ind.]] (2)
| 68 || 6 || 74
| [[Thomas Aeschi]]
|-
| {{party color cell|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}
| S
| [[Social Democratic group (Switzerland)|Social Democratic group]]<br>{{small|Sozialdemokratische fraction}}<br>{{small|{{lang|fr|Groupe socialiste}}}}
| [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|SP/PS]]
| 42 || 12 || 54
| [[Roger Nordmann]]
|-
| {{party color cell|FDP.The Liberals}}
| RL
| [[FDP-Liberal-Radical group]]<br>{{small|FDP-Liberale fraktion}}<br>{{small|Groupe Libéral-Radical}}
| [[FDP.The Liberals|FDP/PLR]]
| 33 || 12 || 45
| [[Beat Walti]]
|-
| {{party color cell|Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland}}
| C
| [[CVP group]]<br>{{small|CVP-fraktion}}<br>{{small|Groupe PDC}}
| [[Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland|CVP/PDC]] (40), [[Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland|EVP/PEV]] (2), [[Christian Social Party in Obwald|CSP OW]] (1)
| 29 || 14 || 43
| [[Filippo Lombardi (politician)|Filippo Lombardi]]
|-
| {{party color cell|Green Party of Switzerland}}
| G
| [[Greens group]]<br>{{small|Grüne fraktion}}<br>{{small|Groupe des Verts}}
| [[Green Party of Switzerland|Greens]] (12), [[Swiss Party of Labour|PdA/PST]] (1)
| 12 || 1 || 13
| [[Balthasar Glättli]]
|-
| {{party color cell|Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland}}
| BD
| [[BDP group]]<br>{{small|BDP fraktion}}<br>{{small|Groupe PBD}}
| [[Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland|BDP/PBD]]
| 7 || 1 || 8
| [[Rosmarie Quadranti]]
|-
| {{party color cell|Green Liberal Party of Switzerland}}
| GL
| [[Green-liberal group]]<br>{{small|Grünliberale fraktion}}<br>{{small|Groupe Vert'Libéral}}
| [[Green Liberal Party of Switzerland|GLP/PVL]]
| 8 || 0 || 8
| [[Tiana Angelina Moser]]
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan=3 |
! colspan=7 | Groups
! rowspan=3 | Vacant
|-
! style="width:30px;" | [[Swiss People's Party group|V]]
! style="width:30px;" | [[Social Democratic group (Switzerland)|S]]
! style="width:30px;" | [[FDP-Liberal-Radical group|RL]]
! style="width:30px;" | [[CVP group|C]]
! style="width:30px;" | [[Greens group|G]]
! style="width:30px;" | [[BDP group|BD]]
! style="width:30px;" | [[Green-liberal group|GL]]
|-
| {{party color cell|Swiss People's Party}}
| {{party color cell|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}
| {{party color cell|FDP.The Liberals}}
| {{party color cell|Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland}}
| {{party color cell|Green Party of Switzerland}}
| {{party color cell|Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland}}
| {{party color cell|Green Liberal Party of Switzerland}}
|-
| Opening || rowspan=3 style="background-color:#{{hexShade|{{party color|Swiss People's Party}}|0.9}};" | 74 || style="background-color:#{{hexShade|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}|0.9}};" | 55 || rowspan=3 style="background-color:#{{hexShade|{{party color|FDP.The Liberals}}|0.9}};" | 45 || rowspan=2 style="background-color:#{{hexShade|{{party color|Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland}}|0.9}};" | 43 || rowspan=3 | 13 || rowspan=3 | 8 || 7 || rowspan=2 | 0
|-
| 2019-05-29{{efn|National Councillor [[Daniel Frei]] leaves the SP and joins the GLP}} || rowspan=2 style="background-color:#{{hexShade|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Switzerland}}|0.9}};" | 54 || rowspan=2 | 8
|-
| 2019-06-03{{efn|National Councillor [[Daniel Fässler]] is elected to the Council of States and remains in the C group, but the canton of Appenzell-Innerhoden decides to not fill his National Council seat which is left vacant until the federal election}} || style="background-color:#{{hexShade|{{party color|Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland}}|0.9}};" | 42 || 1
|-
|}

{{notelist}}

== See also ==
* [[2023 Swiss federal election]]
* [[2019 Swiss federal election]]
* [[2015 Swiss federal election]]
* [[2011 Swiss federal election]]
* [[2007 Swiss federal election]]
* [[Hotel Bellevue Palace]]
* [[Federal Diet of Switzerland]]
* [[Parliament Act (Switzerland)]]
* [[Parliamentary Services (Switzerland)]]
* [[Political Institutions Committee]]

== Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{citation |title=The Swiss Confederation – A Brief Guide 2015 |date=28 April 2015 |publisher=Swiss Federal Chancellery FCh of the Swiss Confederation |editor=Federal Chancellor Corina Casanova |location=Berne, Switzerland |url=https://www.bk.admin.ch/dokumentation/02070/index.html?lang=en |format=PDF |access-date=2016-01-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121153201/https://www.bk.admin.ch/dokumentation/02070/index.html?lang=en |archive-date=21 January 2016 |df=dmy-all}}

==External links==
* [https://www.parlament.ch/F/Pages/default.aspx Official website]
* {{HDS|10081|Federal Assembly}}

{{Switzerland topics}}
{{National bicameral legislatures}}
{{Parliaments in Europe}}
{{Portal bar|Politics|Switzerland}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Federal Assembly (Switzerland)| ]]
[[Category:Government of Switzerland]]
[[Category:Bicameral legislatures|Switzerland]]
[[Category:Parliaments by country|Switzerland]]
[[Category:National legislatures|Switzerland]]
[[Category:Politics of Switzerland]]
[[Category:1848 establishments in Switzerland]]