Leuthard elected to cabinet
Parliament has elected Doris Leuthard, a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Party, to the Swiss government.
The 43-year-old parliamentarian and party president is only the fifth woman to win a seat in the Swiss government.
Leuthard won 133 of the total 242 votes in the first round of balloting by a joint session by the House of Representatives and the Senate on Wednesday.
She faced no official rival after the Christian Democrats did not put forward another candidate to replace her party colleague Joseph Deiss. The economics minister announced his surprise resignation in April.
Leuthard’s election was widely considered a foregone conclusion, since the three other main political parties in parliament voiced no major objections. Only the Greens and several small groups said they would not support her.
Leuthard said her election was in recognition of women in politics and the younger generation.
Wednesday’s vote came just 18 months ahead of the next general elections due in December 2007.
The seven-member multi-party cabinet is expected to decide on Friday on Leuthard’s portfolio amid speculation of a reshuffle. She will take up her post at the beginning of August.
Liberal and conservative
Leuthard, a lawyer by profession, considers herself to be a liberal on social issues but is more in line with conservatives on financial and economic matters.
She enjoys wide support within her own party and among the Swiss public and has often been praised for her common sense and charisma.
But her critics say that her stand on some issues is unclear and she lacks experience for a position in the Swiss government.
Leuthard grew up in a Catholic rural region between Zurich and Lucerne and went into politics as a member of parliament in her home canton of Aargau.
In 1999 she was elected to the federal parliament and took over the presidency of the Christian Democrats two years ago. She has been credited for reuniting her party.
Leuthard is only the fifth woman of the 109 members to be elected to the cabinet since 1848.
swissinfo, Urs Geiser
The Swiss cabinet is made up of seven members of the four main political parties. The ministers are elected in a joint session of both houses of parliament.
Candidates are not elected to ministries but to the cabinet which distributes portfolios according to the principle of seniority.
Ministers are elected to a four-year term. Resignations outside the regular schedule are a relatively rare occurrence.
The rightwing Swiss People’s Party, the centre-left Social Democrats and the centre-right Radical Party hold two seats each.
The centre-right Christian Democrats have just one seat after losing their second seat to the People Party in 2003.
Leuthard is only the fifth woman to be elected government minister in the history of modern-day Switzerland.
The 43-year-old is a lawyer and was elected to parliament in 1999 as a member of the Christian Democratic Party.
In 2004 she took over the presidency of her party.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.