Swiss increasingly unimpressed by government

On the rocks? Switzerland's seven government ministers on their annual excursion in June. This year they visited the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen. Keystone/gaetan Bally

Only 50% of Swiss are satisfied with the country’s seven-person government, the Federal Council. This figure was 15 percentage points higher at the end of 2021.

Since then not only the Federal Council as a whole but also the individual Federal Councillors have lost popularity, according to a surveyExternal link published on Monday by Tamedia newspapers and 20 Minuten.

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who also holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, remains the least popular minister. Interior Minister Alain Berset, who is in charge of the health ministry, remains at the top of the class, despite negative headlines in recent months.

Notably the two ministers involved with the country’s precarious energy situation, Economics Minister Guy Parmelin and Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga, have lost popularity.

Parliament also less popular

Parliament has also lost around ten percentage points in terms of satisfaction since December 2021. In mid-August, when the survey was carried out, 46% of respondents said they were still satisfied or relatively satisfied with the work of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

There was also little enthusiasm for the political composition of the seven-person cabinet. Only 18% of respondents backed the current permutation, in which the three largest parties have two ministers each and the fifth-largest party (The Centre) has one. The fourth-largest party, the Greens, are not represented in government. However, all the other compositions proposed in the survey received even lower ratings.

More than 26,000 people were interviewed for the representative survey in mid-August.