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Just over half of Swiss population satisfied with government

The seven swiss government ministers meeting in wood-panelled cabinet room
Ministers getting down to work, January 2023. Keystone / Peter Schneider

Defence Minister Viola Amherd and Interior Minister Alain Berset are the most highly-regarded members of the seven-member Federal Council, according to a survey.

Amherd tops the public’s esteem ranking with a score of 4.17/6, while Berset follows closely with 4.15/6, the Tamedia group and 20 Minuten newspaper wrote on Monday.

Albert Rösti, who took over the environment, energy and transport portfolio at the beginning of the year, is third with 4.02.

The other four members are Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter (3.89), Economics Minister Guy Parmelin (3.77), Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (3.57) and Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (3.42).

+ Read more: the merry-go-round of allocating ministerial portfolios

The survey of over 25,000 people also found that public satisfaction with Swiss politicians has fallen slightly compared to February this year.

Satisfaction with the work of parliament dropped two percentage points to 48%, while the figure for the government fell one percentage point to 54%.

The seven-member Swiss executive is a consensus-based institution which allocates seats according to the traditional strengths of the country’s four biggest political parties.

+ How Switzerland’s government works, and how ministers are chosen

Its members are not elected by the public but are endorsed by parliamentarians following general elections every four years.

The next such renewal of ministers will take place in December this year, following elections in October.

PLACEHOLDER

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